As a fitting tribute to the late Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, Republicans and Democrats have crafted a bipartisan compromise to support AIDS, TB and malaria policy.
The agreement will set US programs on a new five-year course. The bill was approved this morning at a House Foreign Relations Committee mark-up and likely be approved by the full House next week.
"This historic agreement will save millions of lives, if approved by the full Congress and then fully funded," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "With bi-partisan support, Congress is beginning to fix aspects of the AIDS program that were clearly not working.
“ At the same time, it is moving to increase funding for TB and malaria and set goals on the strengthening of health system capacity. These changes are crucial to development, especially in Africa, ” said Zeitz.
White House spokesperson Dana Perino stated today, “ We support this legislation and we want to express that today. We appreciate the effort to draft in a thoughtful, bipartisan way … .It retains the important policy principles that have made the program such a success and we applaud the committee's work in quickly moving this bill forward and we hope that the House and Senate will soon follow suit and send it on to the President for signature. ” In comments during today ' s mark-up, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) also praised the outcome.
The agreement essentially removes the requirement that one-third of all HIV prevention funding be spent on abstinence and fidelity. Instead, the bill supports promotion of these behaviors while not requiring a fixed funding proportion. Programs must report to Congress if, in countries that have generalized HIV epidemics, they spend less than 50% of funding for behavioral change interventions to prevent sexual transmission of HIV.
"Promotion of abstinence and fidelity has its place, but I have seen how the funding requirement has harmed AIDS programs," said Beatrice Were, Uganda-based Africa Program Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "So, as a women's rights activist, I see this change as a major step forward, and I must congratulate all who made this bill possible.
"The biggest worry I have now, however, is that this bill will not be fully funded," Were stated. "By itself, this bill provides no actual money. So, I urge everyone involved, from advocates to policy makers, to work to ensure the entire $50 billion is actually appropriated so we can save lives here in Africa."