SOUTH AFRICA: STEPHEN LEWIS SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA PRAISES GEORGE W BUSH'S CALL TO TRIPLE U.S. AIDS SPENDING IN AFRICA AND HAITI.

Record ID: 402585

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: STEPHEN LEWIS SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA PRAISES GEORGE W BUSH'S CALL TO TRIPLE U.S. AIDS SPENDING IN AFRICA AND HAITI.
  • Date: 29th January 2003
  • Summary: (U4) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (JANUARY 29, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. MV: OF STEPHEN LEWIS, UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA SEATED NEXT TO JAMES T. MORRIS, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HUMANITARIAN NEEDS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 0.05 2. WS: AUDIENCE LISTENING. 0.09 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) STEPHEN LEWIS
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: LVAAF65VDDFL65R37P3BMS9ZRNJH
  • Story Text: AIDS campaigners in Africa on Wednesday welcomed an
    announcement by U.S. President George W. Bush that he has
    asked Congress to triple AIDS spending in Africa and Haiti to
    $15 billion over five years.



    President George W. Bush, under fire from AIDS groups
    for what they call his neglect of the epidemic, made the
    announcement in his annual State of the Union Address on
    Tuesday (January 28).

    It took AIDS campaigners by surprise, but they quickly both welcomed
    the plan and expressed scepticism about it.

    On its Internet web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov, the
    White House said the plan would target Botswana, Ivory Coast,
    Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,
    Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

    It said the plan calls for the United States to work with
    private groups and governments to "put in place a
    comprehensive plan for diagnosing, preventing and treating
    AIDS."
    Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for
    HIV/AIDS in Africa, welcomed what he called "the first
    dramatic signal from the U.S. administration that it is now
    ready to confront the pandemic and to save or prolong millions
    of lives".

    There is no cure for AIDS, but a cocktail of expensive
    drugs known as anti-retrovirals can keep disease at bay.

    Campaigners have been angered that such drugs are available in
    rich nations, but not to the countries hardest hit by the
    epidemic.

    "It should encourage the government of South Africa to
    institute anti retro-viral treatment at the earliest possible
    moment. The government has always pleaded dollars. It is now
    clear that, from the World community, the dollars are on the
    way," Lewis said at a news conference in Johannesburg on
    Wednesday (January 29) after a tour of the region.

    Speaking at the same news conference, James T. Morris,
    U.N. Secretary-General Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in
    South Africa said:
    "When you have two and a half million AIDS orphans in six
    countries, or eleven million AIDS orphans in sub Saharan
    Africa...this is an emergency we've never known before. And I
    was grateful that, last night in the State of the Union, the
    President of the United States acknowledged this. He made a
    commitment to begin to come to grips with this. This is going
    to take an extraordinary response from the World."
    The Physicians for Human Rights, which campaigns on a
    range of issues from land mines to HIV, last week urged Bush
    to increase global AIDS spending to $3.5 billion a year.

    More than 36 million people are infected with the virus
    that causes AIDS -- 25 million in Africa alone. The United
    Nations predicts AIDS will kill 70 million people in the next
    20 years, unless rich nations increase efforts.



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