For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 11, 2001
Remarks by the President During Announcement of Proposal for Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis
The Rose Garden
Listen to the President's Remarks
Policy Accomplishments and Initiatives (pdf)
10:10 A.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: It is my honor to
welcome our friend, the President of Nigeria, to the Rose
Garden. Mr. President, welcome to Washington, the Rose
Garden. And of course, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of
the United Nations, Mr. Secretary General, thank you for coming.
As well, we are joined by two members of my
Cabinet, Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Health and Human
Services, Tommy Thompson. I want to thank them both for
being here. Scott Evertz, who is the Director of the
National AIDS Policy Office is with us. Scott, thank you for
being here. And, of course, Condoleezza Rice, the National
Security Advisor.
I am looking forward to meeting with the
President on a range of issues that are important to our
nations. This morning, we've spoken about another matter
that involves countless lives. Together, we've been
discussing a strategy to halt the spread of AIDS and other infectious
diseases across the African continent and across the world.
The devastation across the globe left by AIDS,
malaria, tuberculosis, the sheer number of those infected and dying is
almost beyond comprehension. Suffering on the African
continent has been especially great. AIDS alone has left at
least 11 million orphans in sub-Sahara Africa. In several
African countries, as many as half of today's 15-year-olds could die of
AIDS. In a part of the world where so many have suffered
from war and want and famine, these latest tribulations are the
cruelest of fates.
We have the power to help. The
United States is committed to working with other nations to reduce
suffering and to spare lives. And working together is the
key.
Only through sustained and focused
international cooperation can we address problems so grave and
suffering so great. My guests today have been doing their
part and more, and I thank them for their leadership.
President Obasanjo last month led the nations
of Africa in drafting the Abuja declaration which lays out crucial
guidelines for the international effort we all
envision. Secretary General Annan too has made this issue an
urgent priority. He has been an eloquent voice in rallying
the resources and conviction needed in this cause.
When he visited the White House in March, we
talked about the AIDS pandemic. We agreed on a goal of
creating a global fund to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis. The G-8 has been discussing the potential
fund.
Our high-level task force chaired by
Secretaries Powell and Thompson has developed a proposal that we have
shared with U.N. officials, developing nations and our G-8
partners. We will need ideas from all sources. We
must all show leadership and all share responsibility.
For our part, I am today committing the United
States of America to support a new worldwide fund with a founding
contribution of $200 million. This is in addition to the billions we
spend on research and to the $760 million we're spending this year to
help the international effort to fight AIDS. This $200
million will go exclusively to a global fund, with more to follow as we
learn where our support can be most effective.
Based on this morning's meetings, I believe a
consensus is forming on the basic elements that must shape the Global
Fund and its use. First, we agree on the need for
partnerships across borders and among both the public and private
sectors. We must call upon the compassion, energy and
generosity of people everywhere. This means that not only
governments can help but also private corporations, foundations,
faith-based groups and nongovernmental organizations as well.
Second, we agree on an integrated approach
that emphasizes prevention and training of medical personnel as well as
treatment and care. Prevention is indispensable to any strategy of
controlling a pandemic such as we now face.
Third, we must concentrate our efforts on
programs that work, proven best practices. Whenever the
Global Fund supports any health program, we must know that it meets
certain essential criteria. We must know that the money is
well spent, victims are well cared for and local populations are well
served.
That leads to the fourth criterion, namely
that all proposals must be reviewed for effectiveness by medical and
public health experts. Addressing a plague of this magnitude requires
scientific accountability to ensure results.
And, finally, we understand the importance of
innovation in creating lifesaving medicines that combat
diseases. That's why we believe the fund must respect
intellectual property rights, as an incentive for vital research and
development.
This morning, we have made a good
beginning. I expect the upcoming U.N. Special Session and
this summer's G-8 summit in Italy to turn these ideas into
reality. This is one of those moments that reminds us all in
public service why we're here. It challenges us to act
wisely and act together and to act quickly. Across the world
at this moment, there are people in true desperation, and we must
help.
It is now my honor to bring to the podium, the
President of Nigeria. Mr. President.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO: Mr. President,
Secretary General of the U.N., I am particularly grateful to you,
President Bush, for making this ceremony to coincide with my visit to
you here at the White House in Washington, D.C., on your very kind
invitation.
When African leaders gathered in Abuja, two
weeks ago, to indicate their unflinching commitment to fight the
scourge of HIV/AIDS and related diseases, the joint message of the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Health was brought to us as a
message of hope from the United States of America. Today,
Mr. President, you have begun to concreteize that hope for Africa, and
particularly for millions of Africans infected and affected by
HIV/AIDS.
We are still far from the $7 billion to $8
billion annually that experts reckon will be needed to make impression
on the ravaging effects of this dreadful
scourge. But with this beginning, and just the
beginning, as you have kindly emphasized, for the U.S., all nations,
governments, foundations, private individuals and private sector and
indeed all human kind who are stakeholders in the health of humanity
are challenged and called upon to make contributions to the Global
Trust Fund for HIV/AIDS and related diseases.
Mr. President, I thank you, on behalf of all
AIDS sufferers in the world, but particularly on behalf of all AIDS
sufferers in Africa, for launching the global fight against HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Mr.
President. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary
General.
SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: President
Bush, President Obasanjo. I wish to thank you, President
Bush, for committing yourself today to placing the United States at the
forefront of the global fight against HIV/AIDS. It is a
visionary decision that reflects your nation's natural leadership in
the United Nations, as well as your recognition of the threat posed by
this global catastrophe.
To defeat this epidemic that haunts humanity
and to give hope to the millions infected with the virus, we need a
response that matches the challenge. We should now build on
the remarkable progress over the last year in galvanizing global
awareness of the threat of HIV/AIDS.
I believe we can all agree on five key
objectives for our response. First, to ensure that people everywhere,
particularly young people, know what to do to avoid infection; second,
to stop perhaps the most tragic form of HIV transmission, from mother
to child; third, to provide treatment for all those infected; fourth,
to redouble the search for vaccine as well as cure; and, fifth, to care
for all those whose lives have been devastated by AIDS, particularly
the orphans, and there are an estimated 13 million of them worldwide
today and their numbers are growing.
As we declare global war on AIDS, we will need
a war chest to fight it. We need to mobilize an additional
$7 million to $10 million a year to fight this disease
worldwide. The Global Aids and Health Fund that I have
called for as part of this total effort would be open to the nations,
as you heard from the two Presidents, from governments, civil society,
private sector, foundations and individuals -- all hands on
deck. And the resources provided must be over and above what
is being spent today on the disease and on development assistance to
poor countries.
This founding contribution by the US with the
promise to do more will encourage or energize others to
act. Africa, of course, is the continent that is most
profoundly affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the continent most
in need of hope for a better future.
The peoples and the leaders of the continent
are rising to the challenge, as President Obasanjo showed most
recently, by hosting the Abuja AIDS Summit. However, we must
not forget that other parts of the world from the Caribbean to Asia to
Eastern Europe are also confronting the spread of this virus and need
urgent assistance.
Mr. President, it is my hope that your
commitment today will set an example for other leaders. When
we meet at the General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS on the 25th
of June in New York City, there will be a strong support for the Global
Aids and Health Fund. As that happens, I believe today will
be remembered as the day we began to turn the tide.
Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT BUSH: It has been my
honor to host this very important announcement. It's also my
honor to recognize two members of the United States Congress who are
going to work with this administration to make sure that our commitment
becomes reality, Senator Frist and Senator Leahy. We're so thrilled
you're here. We appreciate your vision and we appreciate
your leadership.
Thank you all for coming.
END
10:20 A.M. EDT
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