A SAD DAY IN US HISTORY

White House Announcement on Global Aids Funding Equals Death
Sentence for Millions of Africans

Friday, May 11 (Washington, DC/New York City) - Africa Action
today denounced the Bush Administration's proposal to contribute a
meager $200 million to a global fund for HIV/AIDS and other
infectious diseases now being established through the United
Nations. Responding to the White House's announcement that it
would contribute only $200 million dollars for the proposed $10
billion U.N. fund, Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action,
said "In the face of what will soon be the worst plague in human
history, it's tragic that the richest country in human history is
unwilling to contribute its fair share to finance the solution!" Booker
added, "Underfunding this U.N. initiative means writing off the lives of
millions of Africans and others living with HIV and AIDS, but signing death
sentences especially for black people is nothing new to this president!"

The proposed UN initiative aims to unite prevention efforts and the
provision of life-savings medicines in a new effort made possible by the
recent drop in prices for anti-aids drugs. The price reductions themselves
are the result of the growing protests of anti-aids activists worldwide and
the market forces recently transformed by the entrance of developing country
producers of generic versions of the previously expensive Western-patented
antiretroviral drugs. The proposed fund also represents an effort to act
upon the emerging global consensus that the world's AIDS crisis is solvable
if patent laws are adjusted to ensure access to affordable medicines and if
patients are provided appropriate treatment and care supported by adequate
global funding.

For two decades, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has raced ahead of the
global response. Over 50 million people have been infected, and 17
million have died in Africa. Although there is no cure yet,
antiretroviral drugs can now turn a certain death sentence for
millions into years of productive life. According to Africa Action
President Wyatt Tee Walker, "The failure to prevent such deaths,
when the means are available, will increasingly be recognized for
what it is - the equivalent of mass murder." According to Africa
Action, AIDS is more than a disease, it is a manifestation of a
global apartheid whereby access to the full spectrum of human
rights, including access to healthcare, is largely determined by
race, gender and class.

Addressing a protest in front of the White House, Booker said, "The
White House doesn't care about the Black Death! AIDS is the black
plague: its epicenter is Africa, the region with the next highest
infection rate is the Caribbean, and here in the U.S. -- the region
ranked third -- infection rates are increasing mainly among people of
color. Though AIDS knows no borders and does not discriminate by
race, at present it is mainly killing black people. And that is the cruel
truth of why the White House is unwilling to respond with the needed
resources." Booker added, "Tomorrow's headlines ought to read: President
Bush to Africa: Drop Dead!'"

Africa Action, the oldest advocacy organization in the US concerned with
African affairs, will launch a campaign for "Africa's Right to Health"
during the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in late June
aimed at changing U.S. policies. Africa Action advocates the following:

o African countries must be freed of the burden of foreign debt so
that they can allocate more of their own resources on healthcare.
Presently most African countries spend more on repaying "debts" to
rich countries than on healthcare for their own citizens.

o Countries must also be free to exercise their full rights to obtain
essential drugs at the lowest possible cost, including the use of generic
manufacturing and imports.

o Major increases in funding are also essential. Cost estimates vary
for the different components of a full-scale response to the global
health emergency. Treatment for the estimated 2.4 million Africans
infected with HIV who could benefit from antiretroviral treatment,
according to one recent estimate, would cost approximately $2.7
billion a year. UNAIDS estimates at least $3 billion a year for
needed prevention efforts in Africa. Add in treatment of related
diseases, necessary health infrastructure development, and costs
in other developing regions such as India and China where the
pandemic is beginning to spread more rapidly, and the total required
easily falls in the $15 billion to $20 billion a year range. United
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a global fund
of a more modest amount of $7 to $10 billion a year to support a
broad developing world campaign against the AIDS pandemic.

Even the highest figure, however, is less than one penny out of each
ten dollars of the gross national product of the world's rich countries. It
is a small price to pay to save millions of lives. It is a also a prudent
investment, because failing to pay that price will result in untold human
suffering and profound economic collapse that will ultimately require even
greater expense. The $200 million
announced by President Bush is equal to the price for one F-22
fighter jet, and less than 1% of the proposed $1.35 trillion tax cut that
will mostly benefit the richest 1% of Americans. Africa Action
proposes that the U.S. set aside 5% of the budget surplus each year
to help finance global public health efforts such as the proposed
AIDS initiative. Booker stated that, "Such an approach would send
a signal that the U.S. shares a sense of global responsibility rather
than regarding globalization only as an opportunity for corporate
profit."

He added, "Africa Action believes the real question is how
much inequality are we prepared to accept in the world today?"

For more information visit our website: http://www.africapolicy.org