Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
February 18, 2000 Friday 2D EDITION
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A-04
LENGTH: 551 words
HEADLINE:
Clinton sounds AIDS warning A personal message to Africans
BYLINE: By Joyce M. Davis, Knight Ridder News Service,
BODY:
WASHINGTON - In a speech highlighting
Africa's importance to the United States, President Clinton broke
from his prepared text Thursday for a personal warning to Africans to
concentrate not just on a cure for AIDS, but also on its prevention.
'Now, I know this is a difficult and sensitive
issue,' Clinton told a National Summit on Africa conference here. 'I
know there are cultural and religious factors that make it
very difficult to tackle this issue from a preventive point of
view. But the real answer is to stop people
from getting the HIV virus in the first place.'
Some blame
promiscuity
Health workers in Africa have blamed promiscuity in
some African societies, as well as sexual practices that can make
it easier for infection to enter a woman's bloodstream, for the
rapid spread of the disease.
And many people, especially
women, engage in unprotected sex because they can't afford condoms or
can't get their partners to use them.
'We shouldn't pretend
that we can give injections and work our way out of this,' Clinton
said. 'We have to change behavior, attitudes.'
Clinton said
the United States must protect its interests in Africa by helping the
continent solve its problems, such as encouraging peace, democracy
and open trade and helping to fight the AIDS epidemic.
He
said he has proposed a generous tax credit to
encourage private industry to develop vaccines for
AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases that claim thousands
of African lives each year.
He warned that Americans should
not feel immune as long as contagious diseases ravage Africa.
Both Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
who also addressed the conference, emphasized the importance
of Africa's well-being to America's prosperity. Americans,
Clinton said, can ill afford to ignore a continent that supplies
this country with 13 percent of its oil and to which 30
million Americans trace their heritage.
'Africa does matter
to the United States - of whatever background Americans claim,' he
said.
U.S. to promote investments
Clinton said it's important to
continue providing aid to Africa while promoting U.S. investment on
the continent. Activists have been skeptical of the administration's
trade initiatives, fearing a comparable reduction in aid.
But
Clinton also said private investment is the key to helping the
continent prosper.
'I wish every American knew that last year the
world's fastest-growing economy was Mozambique,' Clinton said.
'Botswana was second, Angola fourth. I wish every American knew that
and understood that that potential is in every African nation.'
The United States must promote open trade throughout
Africa, he said, to help lift its people out of poverty. He and
Albright urged Congress to agree on an African Growth and Opportunity
Act, which the House of Representatives and Senate passed
different versions of last year.
'This act would give a hand
up to leaders who have been reforming and modernizing their
economies, and give new reason for others to do the same,' Albright
said. 'Congress should enact this legislation, not at some distant
point, but this year, this month - now.'
LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2000 
