INTRODUCTION OF THE AIDS MARSHALL PLAN FUND FOR AFRICA -- HON. BARBARA LEE (Extensions of Remarks - August 05, 1999)

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HON. BARBARA LEE OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1999

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce legislation designed to focus both attention and resources on the global emergency of HIV/AIDS, which is wreaking havoc in developing countries, most tragically in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Throughout much of the First Session of the 106th Congress, much information has been disseminated and discussed about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. While AIDS has afflicted Africa since the late 1980's, the latest increases in the HIV/AIDS infected population are staggering. The disease is quite literally obliterating entire communities and devastating the continent.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 1999 Annual Report notes that of the 14 million people world wide who have died from AIDS, 11 million are from the nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

UNAIDS, the United Nations coordinating entity which tracks and combats HIV/AIDS, estimates that 22.5 million Sub-Saharan African adults and children are currently living with AIDS.

Additionally, the HIV/AIDS virus is devastating southern Africa. In Zimbabwe, 1 out of every 5 adults is infected with HIV/AIDS, and an estimated 1,400 people die every week from AIDS. In South Africa, an estimated 3.6 million people are infected with the HIV/AIDS.

A 1999 Census Bureau report states that the average life expectancy in Botswana, malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe fell from approximately 65 years of age to 40 years of age. This represents the lowest life expectancy rates in the world and is largely due to the mortality rates from HIV/AIDS.

In April, I had the opportunity to participate in a Presidential Delegation to Southern Africa to examine the growing crisis of African children orphaned by AIDS. These children now total 7.8 million and are estimated to reach 40 million by 2010. The 1999 annual report by the United Nations Children's Fund tells us, and I couldn't agree more, that ``the number of orphans, particularly in Africa, constitutes nothing less than an emergency, requiring an emergency response'' and that ``finding the resources needed to help stabilize the crisis and protect children is a priority that requires urgent action from the international community.''

Not only do we have a moral imperative to address this epidemic, but it is in our own best interest to do so. HIV/AIDS in Africa is more than a humanitarian crisis, it is an economic crisis, crippling Africa's workforce in many areas and creating even greater economic instability where poverty is ever-present. For example, companies such as Barclays Bank and British Petroleum are now hiring two employees for each skilled job, assuming that one will die from AIDS. The Southern African AIDS Information Dissemination Service estimates that over the next 20 years, AIDS will reduce by one-fourth the value of the economies of sub-Saharan African countries. We cannot create successful and sustainable economic partnerships with African nations unless we address, in a substantial manner, the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Additionally, HIV/AIDS poses serious national security concerns among the continent and globally. Perhaps the most stunning example is the 80 percent HIV infection rate of the military forces of Zimbabwe. Fledgling democratic nations, such as Nigeria, have yet to begin testing and educating their populations. Nigeria also has soldiers returning from peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone. If these soldiers are not tested and advised about the serious nature of their infections and educated about the risk they pose to others, we will be facing a whole new level of devastation from the epidemic.

Mr. Speaker, I am convinced that the United States must take the lead in developing an immediate and sustained response to this crisis in Africa and globally. It is in our own national interest to aggressively attack the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, just we have with other diseases such as small pox and polio. Communicable diseases know no boundaries. As the world gets smaller, we have an obligation to eradicate HIV/AIDS from the face of the earth to protect the world family from its devastating effects. To date our response as a nation to this global epidemic has been sorely inadequate. For this reason, today I am introducing the AIDS Marshall Plan Fund for Africa Act (AMFPA). The AIDS Marshall Plan will assist African governments and non-governmental organizations to combat and control AIDS by providing grant funding for HIV/AIDS research, education, prevention and treatment.

Specifically, this legislation creates the AMPFA Corporation that shall be a new United States government agency. The Corporation shall work in conjunction with the heads of appropriate federal agencies currently engaged in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The AMFPA Corporation shall be governed by a Board of Directors with the advice and guidance from an International Advisory Board made up of distinguished leaders with impeccable integrity and commitment to the health and well being of people throughout the world. The Corporation shall also consult with representatives from community-based African health, education and related organizations regarding the efficacy of providing grant funding in African countries.

The Corporation shall also create a public-private partnership by soliciting funds from private companies and donor nations--especially the G8 countries--to contribute significant resources to its grant making activities.

Mr. Speaker, I realize that accountability is a key issue in today's foreign assistance environment. Therefore, the Corporation shall create self-sufficiency requirements for grant recipients to ensure their programs become increasingly independent of AMFPA funding.
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Additionally, the Corporation shall create criteria for African governments to establish matching funds based upon ability to pay and to demonstrate a national commitment to combating HIV/AIDS by establishing, for example, a national HIV/AIDS council or agency.

Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the administrative costs, or overhead associated with the AMPFA Corporation, are mandated to be no more than 8 percent of the Corporation's overall budget. The AMPFA Act authorizes the appropriation of $200 million for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005. Also, for each of the fiscal years 2002 through 2005, the Act authorizes an appropriation to fund an additional amount equal to 25 percent of the total funds contributed to the Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, in a June 1999 lecture entitled ``The Global Challenges of AIDS'', United States Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that ``no company and no government can take on the challenge of AIDS alone. What is needed is a new approach to public health--combining all available resources, public an private, local and global''. It is my intent that the AIDS Marshall Plan for Africa serve as a replicable model for addressing this crisis globally. Already, this proposed legislation has received the support of over 40 Members of Congress and has caught the interest of the African diplomatic corps, African and African-American organizations, AIDS activists, and global health organizations that are interested in providing assistance to pass the legislation.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I am committed to seeing this legislation through to final passage and encourage my colleagues to review the legislation and to contact me or my staff with questions. This bill will support Africa in a substantive and meaningful manner.
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