[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H995-H1003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AIDS PANDEMIC
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2001, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to begin by thanking
Minority Leader Gephardt for allowing tonight's Special Orders to be
held to increase the awareness of the AIDS pandemic which is reeking
havoc on Africa, the Caribbean, and many other developing nations
throughout the world. Africa, however, is the epicenter of this human
tragedy.
I rise tonight to express my strong opposition to the lawsuit filed
against the South African government by 39 pharmaceutical companies. In
1997, the South African government passed the Medicines Act which would
allow the manufacturing and the importation of generic life-saving AIDS
medicines. Through this lawsuit, however, the pharmaceuticals would all
but halt those opportunities; and this is just downright wrong.
While this suit has been postponed at the request of the
pharmaceutical companies, it is slated to be heard by the South African
Justice Department in the near future. Should this lawsuit proceed,
there is a dangerous potential for life-saving AIDS medicines to be
pushed further out of reach for AIDS patients and communities
throughout the world and for those who need them the most.
While some pharmaceutical companies have taken steps to lower the
costs of these medications, and I applaud their initiatives, life-
saving medications still remain far out of reach for millions of people
living with AIDS. Ninety percent of the world's 36 million people with
HIV face a death sentence, a death sentence because they cannot afford
medication because they are poor and because they live in the
developing world.
For example, in countries like Zimbabwe and Swaziland, the average
life expectancy was 65 to 70 years of age. As a direct impact of AIDS,
those rates have decreased to 30 to 35 years of age. This is
staggering. In Zimbabwe, it is estimated that one-quarter of all
Zimbabweans are infected with HIV. In Botswana, there is a 50 percent
chance that teenage girls and boys will contract HIV if a sustained
strategy to prevent new HIV infections is not instituted.
In wealthy countries, including the United States, people living with
AIDS is treatable. In all of Africa, where more than 70 percent of HIV
cases are concentrated and where more than 70 percent of AIDS deaths
have already occurred, HIV-infected people face painful, painful death,
with no hope of treatment because the essential AIDS medications are
just too expensive. They want the drugs but cannot afford the prices
set by drug companies.
We must not tolerate the current policy which dictates that life with
a manageable illness is possible if one is wealthy or if one has money;
however, death from AIDS is certain if one is poor.
The African AIDS crisis has spurred a tremendous public outcry for
relief, and AIDS patients are demanding the right to live and demanding
the basic human right to affordable treatment.
The South Africa Medicines Act provides the crucial legal clearance
required for South Africa to obtain affordable life-extending generic
HIV drugs. But the drug companies claim that the South African
Medicines Act is criminal and unfairly robs them of their rights to
unfettered patent monopoly. But I say that this lawsuit is criminal.
Everyone from international patent experts to the World Health
Organization agrees that the South African Medicine Act is perfectly
legally sound. While drug companies paralyze the Medicines Act in
court, South Africans face preventable deaths.
According to UNAIDS, every day, 6,000, 6,000 more South Africans die
from AIDS. The continent of Africa accounts for only 1.3 percent of the
global pharmaceutical market in part because the average person lives
on less than $300 per year. That is $300 per year, while the average
AIDS treatment may cost as much as $15,000 per year.
The multinational pharmaceutical industry is not concerned with
African profits. But the drug industry fears the growing awareness on
the part of American taxpayers that pills cost pennies to manufacture.
The drug industry also fears that the growing awareness that a large
percentage of research and development costs are born by United States
taxpayers, and the taxpayer-funded inventions are often licensed for a
pittance to the world's most profitable industry.
The drug industry fears that this growing awareness will reduce the
willingness of United States consumers and public programs to continue
to pay the extraordinarily high prices in our own country.
While I call on the United States Congress to stand with the South
African government and with people living with AIDS fighting this
lawsuit, we must also redouble our efforts in ending this devastating
crisis in South Africa, in the Caribbean, everywhere where drug company
profiteering keeps essential drugs out of reach of the poor.
We must oppose the lawsuit in South Africa, instead offer concrete
support to countries committed to curtailing the AIDS crisis through
access to affordable treatment.
[[Page H996]]
{time} 1930
We need life-saving action, not litigation, not lawsuits.
HIV-infected persons have a basic right to vital medicines for
prevention and treatment of AIDS and must have access to drugs for
treatment of opportunistic infections. These are infections related to
HIV and AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, shingles and to anti-
retroviral agents.
In this debate, it is extremely important to recognize that access to
HIV and AIDS medications is only one part of the solution to our
devastating human tragedy in Africa and throughout the word. The United
Nations' program on HIV and AIDS estimates that it will cost $3 billion
to address HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa alone. That is $3
billion in 1 year only.
We need a comprehensive effort to address HIV and AIDS throughout the
developing world. While we provide some support for HIV-AIDS education
and prevention initiatives, we must increase development and
infrastructure building, particularly as it relates to health care
delivery systems and long-term health management strategies.
A severe lack of basic health and economic infrastructure does impede
our ability to combat the HIV and AIDS crisis in Africa, the Caribbean
and throughout the world. Building the bridge between public and
private sectors and bringing foreign investors to the table is also
central to our strategy in eradicating this disease. These are the
crucial elements that are called for in the AIDS Marshall Plan.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my predecessor, Congressman Ron
Dellums, for his clarity on this issue and his vision in determining a
comprehensive response, and for beating the drug in every village, in
every community and on every continent.
This bridge must be built swiftly, otherwise our efforts will be for
naught. The AIDS Marshall Plan and the World Bank AIDS trust fund
provide a road map that leads to that bridge.
Finally, heavily affected HIV and AIDS countries must receive
complete multilateral and bilateral debt cancellation this year so they
can respond to this crisis effectively. AIDS is decimating the
continent of Africa and leaving behind millions of orphans in its wake.
By 2010, there will be more AIDS orphans in Africa than there are
children in America's public schools. This is truly mind boggling.
We cannot sacrifice this generation of children on the altar of
indifference. The AIDS epidemic has cut life expectancy by 25 years in
some countries. It is a crisis of biblical proportions in Africa and
puts the very survival of the continent at stake.
This is not only a humanitarian crisis, it is a looming economic,
political and social catastrophe. It is a national security threat. We
must continue to raise awareness about the global crisis and this
deadly disease and escalate our efforts to find solutions. HIV-AIDS is
not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is a disease that threatens
the entire human family.
Mr. Speaker, this Congress must continue its bipartisan efforts as we
began last year under the strong leadership of the gentleman from Iowa
(Mr. Leach) and my colleagues in the Black Caucus and the Congressional
Progressive Caucus.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs.
Christensen), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus' Health Brain
Trust. She is a physician from the Virgin Islands, a region of our
world where the epidemic is second in its hardest hit numbers in terms
of infection rates.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, this issue of the HIV and AIDS
pandemic is one that needs to be on the forefront of our agenda every
day. I want to use this time to publicly applaud my colleague, the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), for reserving this hour to focus
on this issue on the floor of the House, and for her hard work and all
of the leadership she has given to the issue of international AIDS.
This Special Order is timely. On the one hand it is timely because of
the unfortunate and misguided South Africa case, and on the other hand
because of the recent commendable responses by several pharmaceutical
companies to the pandemic and the need to make treatment accessible.
Because it does not get much focus, Mr. Speaker, let me use this
opportunity to interject some information about my region, the
Caribbean. Although many of my colleagues do not recognize it, one of
the regions hardest hit by the epidemic is the Caribbean where the HIV
infection rates are among the highest in the world, with an adult
prevalence rate of 2.3 percent, second only to that of sub-Saharan
Africa.
Official estimates show that as of December 2000, there were reported
390,000 persons living with HIV or AIDS in the Caribbean. However,
because there are reporting barriers, the real number is estimated to
be closer to 600,000. In the English-speaking Caribbean, AIDS is the
leading cause of death among men between the ages of 15 and 44; 35
percent of HIV-positive adults are women. A child is either born HIV
positive or is infected through breast milk every day in the English-
speaking Caribbean.
In my own district in the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is a cumulative
total of 380 persons living with AIDS reported since we began tracking
HIV and AIDS. That seemingly small number becomes much larger when you
put it against our small population of 110,000 people, bringing the
Virgin Islands into the top 10 of U.S. States and territories in terms
of incidence of AIDS.
Our neighbor, Puerto Rico, ranks among the top five in incidence of
AIDS among U.S. States and territories. Major challenges exist in the
fight against HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean, not unlike those in Africa
and our communities of color here at home.
Yesterday I was visited by representatives of the Global Network of
People living with AIDS, which is a network by and for people with HIV-
AIDS in Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America and
the Caribbean. With them were representatives of the Caribbean Regional
Network of people living with AIDS.
I am always impressed by the commitment, despite severe odds, and the
tireless work of these organizations, as well as others, and all of the
work that they are doing to stem the tide of this terrible pandemic
around the world. I applaud them, and with them I also applaud the many
community, faith-based, and advocacy organizations that are on the
front lines of the pandemic here in the United States where the
epidemic in African American communities bears many resemblances to the
global one.
It is on all of these shores that the battle must be fought; and the
CBC will continue to be an integral part of it, because whether here or
elsewhere, the persons affected are disproportionately people of
African descent. And while prevention must be the bulwark of our
efforts, we must do all that is possible to make treatment available to
those infected regardless of where they live, how they live, and their
or their government's ability to pay.
That is why we are here this evening, to call attention, one, to the
need to continue the process begun last year with the passage of the
Marshall Plan for Africa, and the creation of the trust fund. Now we
must fully fund our share and encourage our international partners,
both public and private, to contribute to create a trust fund that will
be large enough to make a difference.
The provision of effective drugs must be a part of the equation. We
hear too many reasons why folks say drugs do not have to be made
readily available to the countries that are being devastated in sub-
Saharan Africa. They tell us, well, the infrastructure is not in place.
Some say there is no way to ensure that the drugs will reach those in
need. Others complain that the magnitude of the epidemic is such that
we will never be able to provide medicine in the volume needed. I
cannot say strongly enough that these excuses are completely
unacceptable and unsupportable, as is the lawsuit referred to by my
colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Our humanity demands we respond on all levels to reduce any barrier
to life that this epidemic creates. In doing so we will also be able to
address the other obstacles, treating other diseases, such as malaria,
sleeping sickness, and the others that also take a mighty toll. Mr.
Speaker, we must care about human lives lost. We must care about the
effect of those losses on the ability of these countries to grow, to
stabilize and to take their place on the
[[Page H997]]
world's stage. If nothing else, we must care about the orphaned
children to whom parental love and nurturing have been lost forever.
But more than care, we must do something about it. So I also applaud
the companies that have stepped up the efforts to make life-saving
drugs available, especially those who have recognized the need to allow
some drugs to be provided in their generic form, as Bristol Myers
Squibb has done in the one instance. This is the kind of example, Mr.
Speaker, that we hope others will understand, accept the need for, and
follow.
As one of the companies' spokespersons has been quoted as saying last
week, this is not about profits. It should not be about profits. It is
about poverty and devastating disease. The nature of this pandemic
demands that business as usual and even profits be put aside and that
every sector respond fully. If we can rise to the occasion demanded by
this pandemic everywhere, including in our own communities of color
here at home, not only will we bring this pandemic under control, we
will significantly improve the health of people and communities beyond
this one disease and far into the future.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me, and I yield
back to her.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her statement and
also for her major contributions in bringing her medical expertise and
her commitment to the body politic here in the United States Congress.
Now, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms.
Schakowsky), a real leader on consumer issues, on banking issues, and
on women's health issues. She has been very focused in terms of her
commitment to access to medicines and to treatment for those living
with HIV and AIDS.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join today with the
gentlewoman from California and other distinguished Members who are
concerned about the scourge of AIDS and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and
around the globe.
I am glad we decided to work on this issue from the outset of the
107th Congress. Much discussion but, even more, action needs to occur
in the next 2 years if we are serious about combatting the spread of
HIV-AIDS and if we want to aggressively work to provide relief to those
who are already suffering from this terrible disease.
Those of us here tonight are familiar with the staggering statistics.
However, I believe that at least some of them need to be repeated time
and again until necessary results are achieved. Since the HIV-AIDS
pandemic began, it has claimed 21.8 million lives. Over 17 million men,
women and children have died due to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Over 36 million people are infected with the HIV virus today. Over 25
million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2010, approximately 40
million children worldwide will have lost one or both of their parents
to HIV-AIDS.
If there is anyone who thinks it does not affect them, let me just
point out that one of the side effects of HIV-AIDS has been the
development of drug-resistant TB, tuberculosis. One does not have to
engage in IV drug use or unprotected sex to get drug-resistant TB. Just
sit next to someone on an airplane who coughs on you, and then you have
it. So all of us are at risk.
I find it unspeakably offensive that 39 pharmaceutical companies
filed suit against South Africa in order to prevent that country from
implementing aggressive strategies to make life-saving drugs available
and affordable.
{time} 1945
I would say that that lawsuit needs to be immediately dropped. As the
world's leader, the United States must set the moral example for other
nations to follow.
We have to think about this. We are facing a worldwide pandemic that
has the potential of eclipsing all plagues of the past, all wars, can
destabilize nations and continents and the world, and has been declared
a security risk by the United Nations Security Council. The very idea
that profits and patents and intellectual property rights would be
placed up here while the health of the people of this planet is placed
down here is unimaginable. This is a time in history that requires the
people of the world to sit down at a table and together to develop the
strategies that will end this threat.
I welcome the news that the Bush administration will honor the
policies implemented by the Clinton administration on the subject of
the access to drugs in developing countries, or at least in sub-Saharan
Africa. However, I believe that there is more that can and must be
done. President Bush should use existing authority to give the World
Health Organization the right to use HIV/AIDS patents where the United
States Government has rights to those inventions.
Great progress has been made in developing products to treat HIV and
AIDS, and many of those products were developed with taxpayer funding.
These publicly financed products should be accessible and affordable to
consumers both in the United States and in other countries. Along with
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee),
I wrote to President Clinton on this subject last year and intend to
raise this issue again with President Bush.
A recent Washington Post editorial stated, ``The administration
should lead an international effort to clarify poor countries' right to
fight emergencies with generic drugs, and it should declare its
sympathy for the South African government in the pending case.'' The
editorial went on to say that Robert Zoellick, the U.S. Trade
Representative, should come out publicly and declare this
administration's support for the Clinton administration's executive
order on pharmaceuticals for sub-Saharan Africa.
The Congress and the administration need to work together to form a
budget that includes increased HIV/AIDS funding for numerous programs.
We also have a number of legislative initiatives that deserve action.
We need full funding for the World Bank AIDS Trust Fund legislation
sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and the
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach). With this bill, which is a public-
private partnership dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS and developing
vaccines, we have the ability to leverage more than $1 billion in U.S.
contributions. This bill was authorized for 2 years and funded for this
year, and we need to make sure it is included in our appropriations
priorities this year.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) for her
work and for reintroducing the HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor Countries
Act, of which I am an original cosponsor, and which would make it
illegal for the United States Government to use the TRIPS agreement,
the World Trade Organization agreement, to challenge another country's
efforts to make HIV/AIDS drugs available at lower prices. The bill
would also prohibit any agency of the U.S. Government from using
Federal funds to seek to revoke any law or policy of a developing
country that promotes access to HIV/AIDS medicines. Finally, the bill
would require the U.S. to urge the World Trade Organization to exempt
developing countries from the application of provisions of the TRIPS
agreement that restrict their ability to make HIV/AIDS medicines
available to their populations at affordable prices.
The Congress, President Bush and his Trade Representative have a
responsibility to South Africa and to the rest of the world. It should
be the policy of this administration and this Congress to denounce
efforts that limit access to lifesaving drugs and to attack the AIDS
crisis to the fullest extent. Anything less would be unconscionable.
Ms. LEE. I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for a very clear, very
passionate statement and for her consistent work on behalf of all
humanity.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters),
a sponsor of the Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor Countries Act.
I also want to make sure that we recognize her tonight for actually
leading the Congressional Black Caucus' effort in our initiatives on
the whole HIV/AIDS pandemic on a global basis, a strong supporter of
the AIDS Marshall Plan, and a leader in our debt relief efforts.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from
[[Page H998]]
California (Ms. Lee) for organizing this effort tonight to address this
critical issue of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. I would like to also
thank all of my colleagues who have extended their day to be here this
evening to help draw additional attention to this issue.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is having a severe impact on many developing
countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 17
million Africans have died of AIDS, including 2.4 million who lost
their lives in the year 2000 and an estimated 25 million people in sub-
Saharan Africa are living with HIV. In South Africa alone, over 4
million people are living with HIV. That is almost 10 percent of the
country's population.
In 1997, the South African government passed a law to make HIV/AIDS
drugs more affordable and available for its people. This law allows the
importation of commercial drugs from sources other than the
manufacturers, a practice called parallel importing, and authorizes the
South African government to license local companies to manufacture
generic drugs, a practice called compulsory licensing.
International pharmaceutical companies opposed this law, and no less
than 39 pharmaceutical companies sued the South African government to
block its implementation. Hearings on this lawsuit are scheduled to
resume in April. Two of the largest companies participating in the
lawsuit, Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb, have recently cut the prices
they charge African countries for their AIDS drugs, but their prices
remain well beyond the reach of the people of South Africa.
I urge all 39 pharmaceutical companies to drop this case before the
trial resumes next month. It is absolutely unconscionable that some of
the world's wealthiest corporations are trying to prevent an African
country from manufacturing or purchasing lifesaving medicines. These
are the very same corporations that have steadfastly refused to make
HIV/AIDS medicines available to impoverished people in sub-Saharan
Africa at reasonable prices. It is time to let African countries take
care of their people.
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights, known as TRIPS, is one of the international agreements enforced
by the World Trade Organization, commonly referred to as WTO. The TRIPS
agreement allows pharmaceutical companies to use their patents to
prevent poor countries from producing and distributing affordable HIV/
AIDS medicines. As a result of the TRIPS agreement and pressure from
the pharmaceutical companies, many people in developing countries have
been denied lifesaving HIV/AIDS medicines because they simply cannot
afford to pay the prices these companies demand.
On March 7, 2001, I introduced H.R. 933, the Affordable HIV/AIDS
Medicines for Poor Countries Act. This bill would allow developing
countries faced with an HIV/AIDS crisis to enact legislation to expand
the availability and affordability of HIV/AIDS medicines without
worrying about whether the U.S. Government, the WTO or the
multinational pharmaceutical companies will challenge their laws. This
bill has over 35 cosponsors; and, of course, I urge all of my
colleagues to join me and support H.R. 933.
It would be indefensible for the WTO, which is dominated by the
world's richest multinational companies, to deny poor people in the
world's poorest countries simple life-prolonging medicines. It would
also be indefensible for the United States to support pharmaceutical
companies' efforts to prevent poor countries from making AIDS medicines
available to their people.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by saying, many of us spent a
considerable amount of our time working to dismantle apartheid in South
Africa. Many of us were involved at the State level in tremendous
divestment of our pension funds from companies that were doing business
in South Africa. Some of my colleagues who were here in Congress, I
think, led by Congressman Ron Dellums, produced the sanctions bill on
South Africa and basically helped to draw attention to what was going
on there around the world. We were leaders and we helped to galvanize
the world community on the atrocities of South Africa.
Mr. Speaker, we did not do that work to simply stand by and watch all
of these people who suffered for so many years, who fought and died for
the right just to live in their country, who fought and died for the
right to vote, who fought and died to release political prisoners from
prison, we did not do all of that work, joining with this world effort,
to stand by and watch 39 pharmaceutical companies try and enforce their
intellectual property right and then, after they are confronted by the
world activist community, say, ``Okay, we're going to reduce the price
of drugs, but the court case remains open.''
Mr. Speaker, we will once again join hands around the world, and just
as we fought and we won on the issue of apartheid in South Africa, just
as we fought for the release of Nelson Mandela and all of the political
prisoners, just as we fought for the right for the ANC to determine the
direction of the people of South Africa, we will fight to make sure
that people in South Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa and
people in other developing nations are not denied the right to simply
live because pharmaceutical companies, protecting their intellectual
property rights, their patent rights, will not allow them to have
access to the medicines they need to live.
I would like to send a signal and a warning to the pharmaceuticals:
You cannot get away with tokenism, knowing it is not enough to reduce
the price of drugs when still the price that you have reduced it to is
not low enough. They still cannot afford it. We want you to get out of
the way.
We have seen what can be done in India. We have seen what can be done
in Brazil. We are watching them as they deal with HIV/AIDS, as they put
together wonderful programs to provide their people with the medicine
that they need, reducing the caseloads, helping to prevent HIV and
AIDS. We see what can be done if people have access to the basic
medicines that they need.
So we will engage one more time in the same kind of battle that we
engaged in to get rid of apartheid on this issue. We do not care how
powerful the pharmaceuticals are. We do not care how many campaign
contributions have been made. We do not care what claims they have with
the WTO. We will fight, and we will win. We will win because this is an
issue of life and death and morality. This is an issue where the people
will not be denied.
So, Mr. Speaker, I close this evening by saying once again, I thank
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and all my colleagues who
have decided that they are going to take time in their legislative
priorities and put this at the top of their priorities. They are doing
this, we are doing this, because we believe in the right for human
beings to live when we know we have the medicines and the assistance
and the resources to help them live rather than die. It is a fight and
a struggle we do not wish to be engaged in if we did not have to be.
But I think, based on what we have seen, we have been left with no
choice; and we will engage in that struggle.
{time} 2000
Ms. LEE. I would like to thank the gentlewoman for that very eloquent
statement, and also for putting this in a historical context for us and
reminding us that we have waged war before on a very ruthless system,
and we won, and it is important that we do keep hope alive, because we
will win this battle also.
Mr. Speaker, let me now yield to the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois
(Mr. Davis), an individual whose life has been committed to social,
economic and political justice. He is an individual who constantly
speaks the truth on behalf of a variety of issues here in Congress.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the gentlewoman very much. I want to
thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) not only for yielding
but certainly for organizing this special order and for the tremendous
work she has done on behalf of all people who are seeking truth and
justice, not only in South Africa but throughout the world.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to join in this discussion with my colleagues, a
discussion concerning an epidemic that is negatively impacting the
lives of millions of people throughout the world.
Across the Atlantic, millions of Africans are battling with an
epidemic that
[[Page H999]]
has ravaged the human capital infrastructure, leaving homes and
communities barren. The dreams and hopes of millions of people have
been deferred as men, women and children engage in a losing battle with
the silent but powerful enemy that is sweeping and dismantling Africa
at an alarming rate.
It is without question that the HIV-AIDS crisis has rocked Africa.
And, yes, I cringe when I hear that 36 million people are infected with
the HIV virus today, while 25 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa
alone.
This deleterious enemy has no compassion and strikes without
prejudice. HIV-AIDS will have a devastating impact on the fruit of
Africa's future, the children. It is estimated that by the year 2010,
35 million children will be infected with HIV-AIDS. Moreover, in the
same year approximately 40 million children will have lost one or both
of their parents to HIV-AIDS.
I hasten to mention several socioeconomic problems linked to the
spread of HIV-AIDS. Millions of children will be left orphaned;
industry will suffer due to the decline of a healthy workforce; we will
see the sharp decrease of young adult and middle age populations, which
will reduce consumption and halt local economies; we will see the
fiscal ruin of poor countries attempting to bear the exorbitant health
service delivery costs. Furthermore, communities and homes will be left
divided due to the destruction and devastation caused by HIV-AIDS.
In North America and in other countries of wealth, HIV-AIDS is being
somewhat controlled. Through collaboration, the road for a brighter
tomorrow is chartered. Because we place a priority in stopping this
disease in more wealthy countries, citizens have benefitted directly
from innovative research and best practices. They have better access to
affordable medication, and their quality of life has been greatly
enhanced.
Yet this is not the case for Africa. In all of Africa, where more
than 80 percent of HIV cases are concentrated and where more than 70
percent of AIDS deaths have already occurred, HIV-infected people face
painful death with no hope of treatment because critical AIDS
medications are too expensive.
We must unite and work on a solution that provides affordable
treatment and needed drugs to treat every African man, woman and child.
The huge discrepancy in the delivery of health services in rich and
poor countries begs the question, are we truly serious about assisting
our brothers and sisters in Africa? If we are serious about finding
solutions to this epidemic, then I charge us to commit ourselves to
fighting for the humanity of our African brothers and sisters, at
whatever the cost. We must provide life-saving drugs at reasonable
cost. We must support funding for innovative research in finding a
cure. We must support the regulation of affordable drugs for all
Africans infected by this deadly disease. We must support the
development of a comprehensive HIV-AIDS policy for Africa.
As a civil society, we ourselves must unite to confront this dilemma
head on, to defeat this plague which has us anxious and on the run. It
is time for us to stop running and begin to act. That time is now.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) again for
not only yielding but for providing this opportunity to discuss such an
important issue.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his
very powerful statement, and also for providing a road map in terms of
what we need to do.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs.
Clayton), who has been a leader and is a leader on a variety of issues
here in this Congress and at home in North Carolina. Specifically, she
is working very diligently on the HIV-AIDS crisis in rural communities,
and she always reminds us that rural communities have the same types of
diseases and same types of disparities that urban communities have to
deal with, and oftentimes in greater numbers.
(Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee), who not only has organized this special order to
allow us to express our concern and passion and outrage that we are
putting profit over saving lives, but for her tireless and continuous
leadership in this area. I am looking forward to the gentlewoman
showing us how to make sure we do things in rural America as well.
The gentlewoman has asked us to concentrate on the whole issue of the
AIDS epidemic in Africa. The AIDS epidemic has devastated many
countries in Africa, leaving few men, women and children untouched.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any
other part of the world. In 16 countries, all, all in Sub-Saharan
Africa, more than one in 10 adults is affected by the HIV virus. That
is one out of 10.
According to a joint report issued by the Joint United Nations Report
on HIV and AIDS, one-half, in fact maybe more than one-half, of all
children, 15-year-olds, will either die from AIDS or be affected by it.
We cannot accept that as normal.
I want to quote from a recent article in the paper that says this:
The question of how to provide affordable AIDS medicine to
impoverished people is plaguing governments throughout sub-
Saharan Africa, where 25.3 million of 36.1 million people
with HIV live, according to United Nations estimates. In
neighboring Botswana, where 36 percent of adults are infected
with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, the government
announced today it hoped to provide antiretroviral medication
by the year's end to all who need it.
However, Botswana does not know how they will afford it.
Botswana has the highest rate of HIV infection in the
world, but the country's entire population of 1.6 million is
less than the number of HIV patients here.
Their entire population. We need to understand that this is not
insignificant. This is a very, very serious problem.
Secretary Colin Powell has indicated that AIDS is a national security
problem and an economic problem. I hope this remains a concern of the
administration. But, more than that, I hope this translates into real,
meaningful policy action that will make a difference in treating those
in Africa.
Given the loss of lives that AIDS has caused, the devastation of
entire communities and the long-term impact of economic growth, we must
step up our effort to fight this devastating disease. With children
dying at the age of 15 and with a life expectancy of no more than 45
years for a child born in many of these countries, what should be done
should never be a question of other than to save lives. The moral right
to save lives outweighs any profit consideration. Saving lives is far
more important than protecting the profit rights of the individual
companies. We need to accelerate the efforts to increase AIDS awareness
in all of these countries as well, particularly in Africa and
particularly in rural Africa as well.
In a recent Washington Post story, it was said that information came
to a local community some 20 years after the epidemic started, and that
information could have saved hundreds and thousands of lives. To
demonstrate how slowly information moved, that same article said that
it took 3 years for critical information to move from a devastated
health center just 3 miles down a paved road. By then, 30 percent of
the entire town's population was suffering from HIV, and they need not
have had that happen. We have to work to ensure that stories like this
are no longer the norm.
Everyone, including governments in Africa, the United States and
other governments around the world, must assist in this effort. More
support should be given to volunteer counseling, testing and treatment.
These programs enable African men and women, not only in terms of
prevention but also to learn of their HIV status.
In the United States, people have lived much longer and in improved
health with HIV because we indeed have had drug treatment that has
increased the quality of life. These drug treatments, however, are too
costly and not accessible for most people living in Africa. Until we
find a cure, this treatment must be made not only for those of us who
live in a developed country but those who live in Africa as well.
Treatment can prolong life, it can add to the quality of life, and,
significantly, it can improve the family's opportunity to participate
in that. In fact, AIDS-related mortality in this country has fallen by
75 percent because, in the last 3 years, because we
[[Page H1000]]
have had added to the treatment, so the mortality of AIDS has
decreased.
But that is not the case in Africa. In just a 3-year period there are
news articles indicating it is growing faster. In fact, children are
being orphaned at an increased rate. Many of these orphan children will
end up dying because they, too, are infected by AIDS, of which their
parents have died. This is unacceptable to society in the 21st century.
It is unacceptable morally. We cannot accept this as being a civil
society.
There is a treatment called HAART which is highly effective. This
therapy has indeed been found by a Congressional Research Service
Report to save victims of AIDS. We should indeed make that available.
The President and Congress must keep this issue on the top of the
agenda and find assistance, but, most importantly, the pharmaceutical
companies must be urged to provide needed drugs to Africa at a
substantially reduced rate. We indeed celebrate and applaud those who
have reduced rates. But that is not enough. Drug companies,
particularly pharmaceutical companies with these treatments, are
compelled to act morally now, not later. Indeed, it is not the moral
thing to enter into a lawsuit to protect your property rights while
individuals are dying. Indeed, we call on these companies indeed to
drop that lawsuit.
The responsibility for treating and hopefully ending the AIDS
epidemic is on the shoulders of us all. It is also on the shoulders of
the people in Africa, and we ask that they recognize, all of the
governments, that they indeed have a problem.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that the gentlewoman has allowed
us to speak on this issue.
Let me just say that Africa is indeed suffering from the scourge of
this, but I would be remiss in not saying that where the rest of the
Nation indeed is getting hold of this problem and indeed moving in the
right direction, that five States, including my State, North Carolina,
as well as South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, are indeed
going in the wrong direction.
{time} 2015
These are 5 States that are exceeding the States in other areas.
Indeed, poor areas in North Carolina are increasing in the incidence of
tuberculosis, as well as AIDS. So I want to work in my State on these
emergencies, and I want to urge our citizens and our pharmaceutical
companies to respond to the well-documented urgency of millions of
people who are dying daily from the scourge of this disease in Africa.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for allowing me to participate.
HIV AND AIDS STATISTICS, NOVEMBER 2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLOBAL \1\
People newly infected with HIV/AIDS in 5.4 million
1999.
Adults.................................. 4.7 million
Women................................... 2.3 million
Children younger than 15................ 620,000
Number of people living with HIV/AIDS..... 34.3 million
Adults.................................. 33.0 million
Women................................... 15.7 million
Children younger than 15................ 1.3 million
AIDS deaths in 1999:...................... 2.8 million
Adults.................................. 2.3 million
Women................................... 1.2 million
Children younger than 15................ 500,000
Total number of AIDS deaths since the 18.8 million
beginning of the epidemic.
Adults.................................. 15.0 million
Women................................... 7.7 million
Children younger than 15................ 3.8 million
USA \2\
Reported total AIDS cases in the U.S. 733,374
through 1999.
By gender:
Male.................................... (82%)
Female.................................. (18%)
By race/ethnicity:
Children younger than 13................ (1%)
Whites.................................. (43%)
Blacks.................................. (37%)
Latino/a................................ (18%)
Asian/Pacific Islander.................. (<1%)
By method of exposure:
Men who have sex with men............... (47%)
Injection drug users.................... (25%)
Heterosexual exposure................... (10%)
Blood or blood product infection........ (2%)
Reported total AIDS deaths in the U.S. 430,441
through 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Sources: UNAIDS HIV/AIDS Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic--
June 2000.
\2\ Sources: CDC ``HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report'' Vol. 11, No. 2;
National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48 No. 11, July 24, 2000.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from North
Carolina for her very comprehensive statement and for reminding us that
this is a global pandemic. We did declare in Alameda County a state of
emergency as it relates to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our own area in
Northern California. I also thank the gentlewoman for reminding the
administration of their commitment to address this as a priority.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-
Lee), who serves on the Committee on the Judiciary. I have had the
privilege to benefit from her insights in our travels to Africa,
looking at the devastation caused by this pandemic as it relates to
orphans and children, also as it relates to women and economic
development in Nigeria.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for
her leadership and the opportunity to join her on this important
Special Order that is seeking to put, again, on the national horizon
the question of HIV/AIDS and its international impact. Let me thank the
gentlewoman very much for her leadership on the Marshall Plan of the
106th Congress; and of course, we want to see it funded again this
year.
I do not know if we realize the deep sphere, the piercing of the
heart of what HIV/AIDS has done internationally. In our travels in
visiting South Africa, we came upon an area in Soweto where, as we
entered the area, we were told of a woman who had just been stoned to
death because of her willingness to stand up and admit that she was HIV
infected. These are the kinds of cultural differences that bar
information from getting to large segments of the population in Africa.
Although I would say that I am gratified by the progress that has
been made, it is clearly a necessity that we speak about this issue
today and that we encourage and work with and make a strong request to
the Congress and to the White House to put this as one of its number
one priorities.
Let me also emphasize that this weekend I was able to participate in
a community partners conference on HIV/AIDS in the 18th Congressional
District in Houston. Over 500 people were present there who obviously
were concerned about domestic AIDS, a variety of minority groups from
all over the country who have helped sponsor this particular
conference; and they too were as concerned about the international
impact as they were concerned about the national impact.
As my colleague well knows, we were together at the United Nations
when Vice President Gore spoke to this issue, with the support of Kofi
Annan and the former United States ambassador to the U.N. It was clear
that the members of the Security Council were recognizing that this is
a devastating plague. So I believe that it is of necessity that we
acknowledge it, we acknowledge the fact that HIV/AIDS has been declared
the world's deadliest disease by the World Health Organization. It is
expected to grow in intensity in India, Southeast Asia, and in China.
Mr. Speaker, HIV/AIDS has become a plague on the continent of Africa
of biblical proportions by claiming over 18 million lives in recent
decades. This crisis is having a direct impact on the future viability
of many sub-Saharan countries. For this reason, I am delighted this
evening to again emphasize the importance of how we can bring about a
cure or bring about a diminishing of this terrible impact.
We need additional funding for medication to be made available to the
millions of poor around the world, to fight the growing death toll
attributable to HIV/AIDS. The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on sub-
Saharan Africa has been especially severe. Since the beginning of the
epidemic, over 80 percent of all AIDS deaths have occurred in sub-
Saharan Africa, and by the end of 1999 there were an estimated 23.3
million people in sub-Saharan Africa living with HIV/AIDS. That is 70
percent of the total HIV-infected people worldwide.
In sub-Saharan Africa there are over 5,000 AIDS-related funerals per
day. That is why when we passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act,
a trade bill and, of course, many went to the floor of the House and
said, what relevance does a trade bill have to do with Africa now,
when, in fact, they are dying of HIV/AIDS. But it was important, and I
offered amendments, to focus the corporate community on providing
resources. I am sorry to say that we are not yet there with enough
resources to help in the devastating pandemic that is going on and the
resources needed to provide the medication.
The world knew the size of the coming catastrophe in Africa and had
the
[[Page H1001]]
means available to slow its progression. Estimates from the World
Health Organization in 1990 and 1991 projected a caseload and eventual
death toll in the tens of millions by 2000. Yet, we did not act. And
now is the time that we must establish the fact of a crisis not only of
mind and action, but of heart.
Less than 20 years after doctors first described the symptoms, HIV
has infected 53 million people. So far, 19 million have died, roughly
the population along the Amtrak route from New York to Washington, D.C.
We have pharmaceutical companies who have offered to provide charitable
dollars to help; but I believe we need important action, and that is
why I am a cosponsor of the Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor
Countries Act of 2001. It is important that pharmaceuticals begin in a
massive way to allow generic drugs to go into sub-Saharan Africa to be
able to confront this problem. It is only a matter of funding, and we
need the administration and its White House Office on AIDS policy to
begin to develop this kind of strategy and work with the
pharmaceuticals to now go to the next step and be able to develop these
generic drugs.
The administration and Congress can work together, along with the
Congressional Black Caucus and many other caucuses that are concerned
about this issue. This effort should be led by drug manufacturers and
the Congress. It should be a top priority. We could see an end to
unnecessary deaths and suffering by the close of this year if we make
the commitment to do so today.
The cost of HIV/AIDS treatment for those living in the Third World is
estimated to be about $10,000. It is estimated even if treatment costs
were reduced to only $1,000 a year, it would still be far too expensive
for Third World countries. Drug therapies that have extended the lives
of people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States and other developed
countries could cost between $4,000 and $20,000 per person per year in
sub-Saharan Africa. We can do this. The treatment of HIV/AIDS involves
three drugs that, taken in combination, can prolong the life of an AIDS
patient significantly, the cocktail. In the United States we have seen
a 75 percent decline in the amount of mortality in the last 3 years.
The therapies which use various combinations of anti-viral drugs
emerged in Western countries 5 years ago, transforming the health and
future of AIDS patients who took them. Since that time, the gap in
medical care between rich and poor countries has grown tremendously. We
have a crisis, Mr. Speaker, and we can do something about it. Of the
estimated 36 million people living with HIV, more than 25 million are
in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nearly 42 million of South Africa's 45 million people are infected
with the virus, more than any other country. What I would say, Mr.
Speaker, is that the UNAID update report released last week on HIV/AIDS
infection rates reports that in many countries, up to 35 percent of all
adults are infected with the disease. The report also estimates that
half of today's teenage population in parts of Africa will perish from
HIV/AIDS, and the most vulnerable group are women in Africa. Fifty-five
percent of all adults living with HIV are women. I believe we can do
something about this, and I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Lee) and her visit to the South African conference in Durban, South
Africa, in bringing back the information.
This is a time now for us to be concerned about our babies, the
babies of the world, the babies in sub-Saharan Africa, the women of the
world, the men of the world, families of the world. It is time now that
we stand and join in with the World Health Organization, this
administration, the Congress, many of our progressive caucuses,
including the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Speaker, and provide a
resolution and a solution to the devastation and death.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my democratic colleague, Representative
Barbara Lee from California, in expressing our concerns regarding the
ravages of HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa. For this reason I am in
favor of any effort by this body to increase access to HIV/AIDS
treatment and education throughout the developing world, but especially
on the continent of Africa.
HIV/AIDS has been declared the world's deadliest disease by the World
Health Organization. HIV/AIDS has become a plague on the Continent of
Africa of biblical proportions by claiming over 18 million lives in
recent decades. Unlike the black death in 14th century Europe, which
took half as many lives, the means of controlling AIDS were known.
This crisis is having a direct impact on the future viability of many
sub-Saharan African communities. For this reason, I am joining
Congresswoman Lee of California in support of additional funding for
medication to be made available to the millions of poor around the
world to fight the growing death toll attributed to HIV/AIDS.
The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on sub-Saharan Africa has been
especially severe. Since the beginning of the epidemic, over 80% of all
AIDS deaths have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. By the end of 1999,
there were an estimated 23.3 million people in sub-Saharan Africa
living with HIV/AIDS. That is 70% of the total number of HIV-infected
people worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are over five thousand
AIDS-related funerals per day.
The world knew the size of the coming catastrophe in Africa and had
the means available to slow its progression. Estimates from the World
Health Organization in 1990 and 1991 projected a caseload, and eventual
death toll, in the tens of millions by 2000.
Less than 20 years after doctors first described its symptoms; HIV
has infected 53 million people. So far, 19 million have died, roughly
the population along the Amtrak route from New York to Washington, DC.
Recently a drug company announced an initiative to offer a limit of
$100 million in charitable contributions of medicines to fight AIDS
in Africa.
I would offer that the drug manufactures and the Congressional Black
Caucus should be on the same side in this effort. It is only a matter
of funding, which this Administration could take the lead in gathering
from the global community of wealthier nations. This effort should be
lead by drug manufactures and the Congress as a top priority. We could
see an end to unnecessary deaths and sufferings by the close of this
year if we make the commitment to do so today.
The cost of HIV/AIDS treatment for those living in the third world is
estimated to be about $10,000 a year. It is estimated that even if
treatment cost were reduced to only $1,000 a year it would still be far
too expensive for Third World countries.
Drug therapies that have extended the lives of people living with
HIV/AIDS in the United States and other developed countries could cost
between $4,000 and $20,000 per person per year in sub-Saharan Africa.
The treatment of HIV/AIDS involves three drugs that taken in
combination can prolong the life of an AIDS patient significantly.
In the United States, where the treatment has become standard, the
AIDS-related mortality rate fell 75 percent in three years.
The therapies, which use various combinations of antiviral drugs
emerged in Western countries five years ago, transforming the health
and future of AIDS patients who took them.
Since that time the gap in medical care between rich and poor
countries has grown tremendously--our nation along with other should be
ashamed at this condition.
Now we are faced with a situation where the world's largest drug
companies have begun a court challenge of South Africa's efforts to buy
cheap, generic substitutes for patented AIDS medicines.
Of the estimate d36 million people living with HIV more than 25
million are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 4.2 million of South Africa's
45 million people are infected with the virus, more than in any other
country.
According to the UNAIDS Update report released last week on HIV/AIDS
infection rates in many countries up to 35% of all adults are infected
with the disease. The report also estimates that half of today's
teenage population in parts of Africa will perish from HIV/AIDS. The
most vulnerable group being affected by HIV/AIDS is the women of
Africa; their infection rate is far greater than males. About fifty-
five percent of all adults living with HIV are women, and this rate is
expected to continue to rise in countries where poverty, poor health
systems and limited resources for prevention and care are present. What
fuels the spread of this disease or any disease is, misinformation,
cultural practices, passivity on the part of leaders, neglect on the
part of those nations with resources that if engaged would make a
difference in the fight to win out over the disease.
I would like to commend Congresswoman Lee for her efforts to offer a
clear perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. She recently
returned from Durban, South Africa, after participating in AIDS 2000,
which was the 13th International AIDS conference.
Now, more than ever, the leadership of the United States is needed in
order to avert a tragedy on the Continent of Africa. Therefore, I
implore my fellow colleagues of the House to seriously reconsider the
level of funding that has been appropriated for this critical area.
[[Page H1002]]
Many people have asked why this is important to the United States. I
reiterate that aside from the humanitarian perspective, the CIA has
issued a report that declares HIV/AIDS a threat to our national
security. HIV/AIDS undermines democracy and progress in many African
nations and the developing world. Left to its own course HIV/AIDS will
lead to political instability and may result in civil wars, which may
affect the global balance of powers as well as economic viability of
many African nations. In many of these instances, our military service
personnel may be pressed into service in order to defend American
interest in any attempt to bring stability to those nation's that
decline into civil strife because of the ravages of HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS
like any plague cannot be contained in any specific geographical area
it will roll across borders of the rich and poor nations alike.
Unfortunately, when this dreaded disease came to our shores many felt
that it was a calamity for gay people, drug users AIDS knows no
boundaries. With globalization, we also must be conscious of the
potential for AIDS and other infectious diseases to be carried across
borders.
The World Health Organization estimates that 34.5 million children
and adults in Africa are living with HIV and/or AIDS. We must work to
bring this tragic situation under control using all means at our
disposal as a nation, which includes acting in a leadership capacity to
encourage other nations to join in an effort to address this mammoth
health crisis.
I would ask my colleagues not to continue to bury their minds under
useless words, but to apply our collective resources to find solutions
to the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Texas for
taking time out of her very busy schedule and making a major
contribution to this Special Order tonight.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, let me just say, I think we have heard
tonight from many of my colleagues who are indicating that they
believe, as I do, that this lawsuit should be dropped and it should be
dropped immediately. We have made some progress in the fight against
this pandemic, but we certainly do not need any more obstacles to
making sure that people begin to receive medication so that they can
live.
I thank my colleagues, once again, for joining us this evening.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, HIV/AIDS continues to devastate
women throughout the world and nowhere is it more overwhelming than on
the African continent. As news reports tell us daily, AIDS in Africa
has reached crisis proportions. Two-thirds of the world's 33 million
AIDS infected victims live on the African continent. Tragically, the
epicenter of this disease is among African women with profound effects
on their children. More than nine-tenths of the eight million children
orphaned by AIDS last year were in Africa. What can any of us do?
New and inexpensive drug treatments that help prevent mother-to-child
transmission need to be employed in Africa. Governments, corporations
and non-governmental organizations must coordinate strengths and
cooperate in addressing major problem areas, including the critical
absence of adequate infrastructure throughout the continent. Local
capacity must be developed through education of the masses, and
scientific knowledge needs to be improved.
I call upon the Administration to include $150 million in its FY2002
budget for the World Bank AIDS Trust Fund. This landmark public/private
partnership, authorized under the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief
Act of 2000, is designed to leverage contributions with additional
resources from the international donor community as well as from the
private sector. These funds are necessary to implement HIV/AIDS best
practices in countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.
While the HIV/AIDS disease continues to devastate humanity and
finding a cure seems far into the future, we cannot afford to give up.
I will continue to devote my time and energy to finding solutions to
the myriad difficulties surrounding the treatment and fight against
AIDS.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I commend Congresswoman Barbara Lee for
organizing today's Special Order and for her leadership in the fight
against the global AIDS pandemic. Rep. Lee's work was instrumental in
the establishment and funding of the World Bank Trust Fund. With her
unrelenting advocacy, over the course of the past year, the world has
finally, albeit belatedly, started taking notice of the global AIDS
pandemic and the havoc it is creating in the developing world. I join
her today in calling for a stronger U.S., international, and
multilateral commitment to combat global HIV/AIDS, which is the world's
most deadly infectious disease ever.
The social, economic, security and human costs of this crisis are
devastating entire nations. Increased funding for global AIDS programs
must be provided as part of a renewed commitment to a comprehensive and
adequately funded development assistance strategy addressing the new
challenges facing the developing world as a result of HIV/AIDS.
The United States must take the lead. Our investment in the fight
against the global AIDS pandemic not only has a direct impact, but it
also leverages significant funds from other countries and multilateral
institutions. Non-governmental organizations working to fight global
AIDS believe that the U.S. funding for global AIDS programs should be
doubled this year, to a total across all U.S. agencies and programs of
$464.5 million. Just to put this number in perspective, the Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that $3 billion
is needed annually for Africa alone to provide minimal care, anti-viral
drugs, and HIV prevention. Estimates of costs for an effective response
to the epidemic worldwide start at $7 billion annually.
In FY 2001, Congress and the Administration significantly expanded
funding for global HIV/AIDS efforts with the LIFE (Leadership and
Investment in Fighting an Epidemic) initiative. The Foreign Operations
Appropriations Subcommittee, on which I have served as the Ranking
Democrat, succeeded in our effort to dramatically increase funding for
global AIDS at the United States Agency for International Development.
Programs which last year received $190 million for international
prevention, care, and education efforts, including programs to prevent
mother-to-child transmission and address the needs of the growing
population of AIDS orphans, will receive $315 million in the current
fiscal year.
So much more needs to be done.
Comprehensive prevention efforts have turned around HIV epidemics in
Uganda and Thailand, and averted an epidemic in Senegal. We know that
prevention and education programs work. The United States must
now demonstrate leadership in providing needed funding so that
effective programs can be expanded and replicated.
We must also invest in the efforts to develop a vaccine. Vaccines are
our best hope to bring this epidemic under control, and we must do all
we can to facilitate cooperation between the public and private sectors
in order to bring together the necessary resources and expertise.
Unfortunately, these challenges are only the beginning. India already
has more infected people than any other nation, over 3.5 million.
Experts are predicting that without significant efforts to treat those
with HIV and prevent new infections the number of people living with
HIV/AIDS in India could surpass the combined number of cases in all
African countries within two decades. Asia already accounts for one out
of every four infections worldwide. The Newly Independent States in the
former Soviet Union are also seeing significant increases in their HIV
infection rates. There has been a six-fold increase in the number of
HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the last four
years.
Developing nations will be unable to turn the tide on this epidemic
if even the most basic health care is unavailable or out of reach for
most of their citizens. Yet despite such scarcity, community-based
organizations in villages are doing much with little. People must be
educated about HIV and how to prevent its spread. Increased testing and
counseling opportunities are desperately needed. Basic care and
treatment that can be delivered in homes or makeshift clinics is
essential. And the need for support for the growing number of children
orphaned by AIDS looms large.
Access to affordable drugs is a critical piece of the fight against
global AIDS in the developing world. In January, I joined with 28
Members of Congress in writing President Bush urging this
Administration to continue the Clinton Administration's Executive Order
promoting Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technologies.
We must take every possible action to ensure that people with HIV/AIDS
around the world have access to life-saving drugs.
The fight ahead of us against the global AIDS pandemic is a long one.
We have no choice but to engage in the fight and to prevail. I look
forward to working with Congresswoman Lee and others here and in the
NGO community to promote U.S. leadership in the fight against global
AIDS.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join today with the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and other distinguished members
who are concerned about the scourge of HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan
Africa and around the globe. I am glad we have decided to work on this
issue from the outset of the 107th Congress. There is a lot of
discussion and even more action that needs to occur in the next two
years if we are serious about combating the spread of HIV/AIDS and if
we want to aggressively work to provide relief to those who are already
suffering from this terrible disease.
Those of us here tonight are familiar with the staggering statistics.
However, I believe that at least some of them need to be repeated time
and again until necessary results are achieved.
[[Page H1003]]
Since the HIV/AIDS pandemic began, it has claimed 21,800,000 lives.
Over 17,000,000 men, women, and children, have died due to AIDS in
sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Over 36,000,000 people are infected with the HIV virus today. Over
25,000,000 live in sub-Saharan Africa.
By 2010, approximately 40,000,000 children worldwide will have lost
one or both of their parents to HIV/AIDS.
One does not have to look far to come across scores of figures like
those I just mentioned. And, as daunting a picture as the numbers paint
for us, there are in fact many things that can be done right now to
advance the struggle to prevent others from being infected and to help
extend the lives of those who are already suffering.
The numerous drug companies that have filed suit against South Africa
in order to prevent that country from implementing aggressive
strategies to make life-saving drugs available and affordable
immediately should be dropped. I am appalled by the drug industry's
thirst for profit and willful neglect of the AIDS pandemic in Africa.
These companies have to stop putting profits before people. And, as the
world's leader, the United States must set the moral example for other
nation's to follow.
I welcome news that the Bush Administration will honor the policies
implemented by the Clinton Administration on this subject. However, I
believe that there is more that can and must be done. President Bush
should use existing authority to give the World Health Organization
(WHO) the right to use HIV/AIDS patents where the United States
government has rights to those inventions. Great progress has been made
in developing products to treat HIV and AIDS, and many of those
products were developed with taxpayer funding. These publicly-financed
products should be accessible and affordable to consumers both in the
United States and in other countries. Along with Representatives
Jackson, Waters, and Lee, I wrote to President Clinton on this subject
last year and intend to raise this issue again with President Bush.
A recent Washington Post editorial stated,
The Administration should lead an international effort to
clarify poor countries' right to fight emergencies with
generic drugs, and it should declare its sympathy for the
South African government in the pending case.
The editorial went on to say that Robert Zoellick, the U.S. Trade
Representative should come out publicly and declare this
Administration's support for the Clinton Administration's Executive
Order on pharmaceuticals for sub-Saharan Africa.
The Congress and the Administration need to work together to form a
budget that includes increased HIV/AIDS funding for numerous programs.
We also have a number of legislative initiatives that deserve action.
We need full funding for the World Bank AIDS Trust Fund--legislation
sponsored by Congresswoman Lee and Congressman Leach. With this bill,
which is a public private partnership dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS
and developing vaccines, we have the ability to leverage more than a $1
billion U.S. contribution. This bill was authorized for two years and
funded for this year and we need to make sure it is included in our
appropriations priorities this year.
I want to thank Congresswoman Waters for her work and for
reintroducing the HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor Countries Act, which I am
an original cosponsor of, and which would make it illegal for the U.S.
government to use the TRIPS agreement to challenge another countries
efforts to make HIV/AIDS drugs available at lower prices. The bill
would also prohibit any agency of the U.S. government from using
federal bills to seek to revoke any law or policy of a developing
country that promotes access to HIV/AIDS medicines. Finally, the bill
would require the U.S. to urge the World Trade Organization (WTO) to
exempt developing countries from the application of provisions of the
TRIPS agreement that restrict their ability to make HIV/AIDS medicines
available to their populations at affordable prices.
The Congress, President Bush, and his Trade Representative have a
responsibility to South Africa and to the rest of the world. It should
be the policy of this Administration and this Congress to denounce
efforts that limit access to life savings drugs and to attack the AIDS
crisis to the fullest extent. Anything less would be unconscionable.
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