69 Join Lee in Call for More Funds to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria
(Washington, DC) – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) sent a letter, signed by 69 members of Congress, calling on key members of the House Appropriations Committee to increase funding for global AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria programs.
“The United States can and must do more to lead the fight against these devastating pandemics by increasing funding for the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, ensuring that children are treated and cared for, and increasing our contribution to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria,” said Lee. “For those who say we cannot afford to fight these diseases, I say we cannot afford not to.”
Today, an estimated 40 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS. Last year, an estimated 3 million people died of AIDS—570,000 of who were children, while another 5 million people became infected—including 700,000 children. Women increasingly bear the brunt of the AIDS epidemic and in Sub-Saharan Africa they now account for more than 50 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases.
In the developing world, HIV/AIDS is often compounded by co-infection with TB and malaria. Due to a lack of available drugs to treat these diseases, TB and malaria are actually the leading killers of people living with HIV/AIDS. Last year, one million people died of malaria, 90 percent of who were children, while two million people died of TB.
Lee and her colleagues are calling for $7.54 billion for global AIDS, TB, and malaria programs in FY07—with 10 percent of AIDS funding dedicated to orphans and vulnerable children, and at least $1.2 billion of all funds going towards the Global Fund. The request represents a significant increase in funding for the programs, but according to Lee it is based on what experts say is needed to control the diseases.
For FY06, Congress appropriated $3.45 billion for the programs, with $550 million of that directed to the Global Fund. In his budget, the President requested almost $4 billion for FY07, with about $300 for Global Fund.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee's accomplishments in promoting effective, bipartisan measures to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and bring treatment to the infected have earned her recognition both at home and abroad as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Lee was a coauthor of the bipartisan legislation to designate $15 billion for the prevention, care, and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. She authored the bill to establish the framework for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2002, as well as recently passed legislation to address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, many of whom are victims of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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May 4, 2006
The Honorable Jerry Lewis The Honorable David Obey
Chairman Ranking Member
House Committee on Appropriations House Committee on Appropriations
Room H-218, The Capitol 1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Lewis and Ranking Member Obey:
We are writing to thank you for your previous efforts to increase funding for global AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria programs, and to strongly urge you to continue these efforts by approving a Fiscal Year 2007 appropriation totaling $7.54 billion—of which 10 percent of AIDS funding should be dedicated to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC’s), and at least $1.2 billion of all funds should go towards the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. We believe that this level of funding will make a significant difference in reducing the spread of these three diseases, and will help prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the coming year.
As you know, we are currently in the third funding year of the $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief which was enacted on a bipartisan basis by a wide margin through The United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-25). This landmark piece of legislation recognizes the devastation that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are wreaking throughout much of the developing world, and makes the prevention, control, and cure of each disease a major objective of US foreign policy.
The recent second annual report by the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator points to a number of encouraging signs in the effort to scale up our foreign assistance programs to address HIV/AIDS, including support for 471,000 individuals on anti-retroviral treatment, and care services provided to over 1.2 million orphans and vulnerable children.
Yet, even against these encouraging signs of progress, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that 3 million people died of HIV/AIDS in 2005—570,000 of whom were children, while another 5 million people were newly infected—including 700,000 children. Clearly much more needs to be done to combat this devastating disease.
Following the passage last year of The Assistance for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-95), and consistent with the requirements of the Leadership Act, we must do more this year to address the needs of children impacted by HIV/AIDS by providing at least 10 percent of all AIDS funding to OVC’s in FY07, and ensure that we spend at least 15 percent of all AIDS treatment money on children.
At the same time, we can and should focus more effort on combating the global tuberculosis and malaria pandemics—the largest killers of people living with HIV/AIDS. As the primary vehicle for US foreign assistance efforts to combat TB and malaria, we must continue our strong support for the Global Fund. So far the Fund has approved $4.9 billion in funding to over 350 grants in 131 countries, and funded DOTS therapy for over 1 million TB cases, provided over 7.7 million insecticide treated bed nets to protect pregnant women and their children, and treated 1.1 million people for malaria. With further funding, the Global Fund can continue to make significant advances against these two diseases while complementing the work of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are killers. We can and should appropriate a minimum of $7.54 billion to fight them in the coming fiscal year. The longer we wait to ramp up our foreign assistance efforts, the greater the toll that these three diseases will take on human life and on the social, political and economic systems of vulnerable countries, and the greater the cost will be to the international community.
Sincerely,
Barbara Lee, M.C. Tom Lantos, M.C.
James A. Leach Corrine Brown, M.C.
Doris O. Matsui, M.C. Henry A. Waxman, M.C.
Tammy Baldwin, M.C. Diana DeGette, M.C.
George Miller, M.C. Jim McDermott, M.C.
Rush D. Holt, M.C. Tom Udall, M.C.
Sherrod Brown, M.C. Maxine Waters, M.C.
John Conyers Jr., M.C. James P. McGovern, M.C.
Jerrold Nadler, M.C. Michael M. Honda, M.C.
Robert Wexler, M.C. Raúl M. Grijalva, M.C.
Joseph Crowley, M.C. Dennis J. Kucinich, M.C.
Carolyn B. Maloney, M.C. Gregory W. Meeks, M.C.
Fortney Pete Stark, M.C. Eddie Bernice Johnson, M.C.
Chris Van Hollen, M.C. Lloyd Doggett, M.C.