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Senate Committee Approves Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Kerry-Frist legislation coordinates US international efforts, authorizes new funding
June 14, 2002 - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved today a major legislative proposal to increase funding and guide the US policy response to the global HIV/AIDS crisis. Sponsored on a bipartisan basis by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the far-reaching legislation calls on the President to develop a comprehensive strategy to guide US assistance efforts (bilateral and multilateral) with respect to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and research. The bill has important implications for international efforts to save women’s lives.
S. 2525, the “United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2002”, is designed to strengthen US leadership in the international effort to respond to the growing pandemic, which as of the end of 2001 has infected more than 60 million people, 22 million of whom have died. At the outset of 2002, more than 40 million people were infected with HIV or living with AIDS. For additional epidemiological information about the disease, click here.
The Kerry-Frist legislation would guide US policy planning and coordination throughout the government regarding international HIV/AIDS efforts; encourage and support innovative public-private partnerships (including the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria); support US participation in key multilateral efforts; guide US bilateral assistance efforts; and encourage adherence by US firms operating overseas to certain workplace standards with respect to HIV/AIDS.
The centerpiece of the legislation is a requirement that the President develop within 6 months a comprehensive, five-year strategy for helping staunch the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The government-wide plan is to include prevention efforts (including to prevent mother-to-child transmission), treatment and care programs (including for AIDS orphans), with special reference to the needs of women, young people and children. Complementing this plan, the bill calls on the US Agency for International Development to develop a comprehensive plan to help protect women from HIV infection. Women have been shown to be four times as vulnerable as men to infection and together with children and young people constitute one of the most high risk populations. For more information about the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS, click here. The bill also establishes an overall coordinator, within the Department of State, to oversee and sheperd the activities of all US government agencies on global HIV/AIDS matters.
In terms of funding, the bill encourages a doubling in US expenditures for international HIV/AIDS assistance. It authorizes $1 billion in 2003 and $1.2 billion in 2004 as the US contribution to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, which was launched at the initiative of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The Global Fund is an independent, public-private partnership governed by a diverse Board of Directors. Also on the international front, the legislation modifies debt relief efforts to ensure that they do not undermine and, in fact, enhance health efforts in countries where HIV/AIDS is causing significant disruption.
The bill also allocates resources for bilateral assistance programs coordinated by USAID. S. 2525 authorizes $800 million in 2003 for these programs and $900 million in 2004. A portion of these funds ($20 million in 2003 and $24 million in 2004) would be spent on research on microbicides, gels that women can control and use to prevent infection from the virus. Similarly, $100 million is set aside in 2003 (and $120 million in 2004) for the purpose of acquiring pharmaceuticals used in treatment for persons living with AIDS. Finally, the bill authorizes enhanced expenditures by the US for international efforts to prevent tuberculosis and malaria.
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