Copyright 1999 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
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JULY 10, 1999, SATURDAY, FINAL; CONTRA COSTA
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A15
LENGTH: 906 words
HEADLINE:
Dellums Urges U.S. To Help Stem AIDS Epidemic in Africa;
Senate panel
address in S.F.
BYLINE: Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff
Writer
DATELINE: San Francisco
BODY:
With an impassioned plea, former Oakland Rep.
Ron Dellums told a U.S. Senate panel in San Francisco yesterday that the nation
needs to wake up to the magnitude of an AIDS catastrophe enveloping Africa.
"This is a global problem that threatens the human family. We have to
move beyond this state of denial," Dellums said before a hushed audience in the
Board of Supervisors chambers.
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, Dellums
said, "6,000 human beings are dying" every day. By the year 2010, according to
World Health Organization projections, 22.5 million more Africans will die from
the disease, and 40 million African children will be orphaned by the disease.
"How can the world stand by and let 20 million people die, and do
nothing?" he asked.
Dellums, who has made the issue his career since
retiring in February 1998 after 27 years as an Democratic congressman, said the
answer is an "AIDS Marshall Plan for Africa" to raise billions of dollars to
fight the disease in developing countries.
Just as the United States,
under the guidance of Secretary of State George Marshall, spent
$85 billion in current dollars 50 years ago to revive Western
Europe after World War II, industrialized countries would rescue Africa with a
package of AIDS prevention and treatments.
"Ninety percent of AIDS cases
in the world are in developing countries where there is no treatment," Dellums
said. Less than 1 percent of AIDS drugs are sold in African nations south of the
Sahara Desert, where 70 percent of new HIV infections occur.
He said
that responding to AIDS in Africa is not just a moral obligation, but a
"national security" issue. "The virus travels," he said. "What makes us think we
live in a cocoon? This is a great storm that can also engulf the United States."
Dellums later told reporters it would take billions of dollars to
respond to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. As a start to his proposed Marshall
Plan, he would like to see the United States commit $500
million to $1 billion over five years.
The focus of the
Senate hearing in San Francisco, however, was on the looming financial crisis
facing government AIDS funding in the United States.
Republican
proposals coming up for debate next week call for strict adherence to spending
limits imposed by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. They call for a 10 percent
reduction in total spending, including the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education, which have jurisdiction over most AIDS spending.
The hearing brought to City Hall a collection of AIDS stars and
political heavyweights. California Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and
Barbara Boxer were there, as was San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
The
cast of witnesses included Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute
of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, San Francisco General AIDS specialist Dr.
Paul Volberding, AIDS activist and 1998 Miss America Kate Schindle, and Jeanne
White, mother of Ryan White, the 16-year-old hemophiliac who died of AIDS in
1991 and for whom the $1.8 billion Ryan White Care
Act was named.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the
Senate Appropriations subcommittee, with oversight of the $80
billion budget for the three departments, told the gathering that he is trying
to find out how to come up with the money to keep AIDS programs funded.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has estimated that
spending for Ryan White Act programs -- which include prevention and treatment
in American cities -- could be cut by $250 million, instead of
increasing by $100 million under the proposed Clinton
administration budget.
Mayor Brown testified that such cuts would be
devastating to San Francisco's AIDS programs.
"This is a decision which
has the potential to wreak havoc on our population," said Brown. Although new
drug regimes have dramatically lowered the death rate from AIDS, more San
Franciscans than ever are living with the disease. "The need is greater than it
ever was before," he said. "One in every 50 San Francisco residents is HIV
positive. That is an awesome figure."
Dr. Volberding, who saw his first
AIDS case on his first day of work at San Francisco General Hospital in 1981,
also pleaded for relief. "Any cuts you may impose would be truly disastrous," he
said, adding that Balanced Budget Act reductions are also threatening the
survival of teaching hospitals where much AIDS care is given.
Sean
Sasser, an actor and director of Health Initiatives for Youth, warned that "the
AIDS epidemic is not over," despite drugs that are saving some lives. "There are
40,000 new infections each year in the U.S. Half of those are among people under
age 25, a quarter are under age 22." He said more government spending on AIDS,
not less, is needed.
HIV positive since he was 19, Sasser is now 30
years old. "I'm still here because the federal government made an investment in
AIDS research," he said.
Jeanne White closed the hearing with a moving
account of her son's struggle with AIDS and discrimination. Like the others, she
pleaded for more funding. But she brought home the tragedy of AIDS with a
personal anecdote.
After Ryan died, she said, she often asks herself,
"Why didn't I get a miracle?" She has concluded that maybe hers was that he
lived 5 1/2 years -- five years longer than doctors had predicted. "Miracles
come in different ways," she said.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Ron Dellums has
dedicated his efforts to Africa's AIDS epidemic since retiring from Congress.
LOAD-DATE: July 10, 1999 
