U.S. President Signs Africa AIDS Bill
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On August 19, 2000 U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a bill setting up a global trust fund to provide funds for AIDS prevention, health care and education to developing countries. The "Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000" also authorizes US$50 million in new funds for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and US$10 million for IAVI.
In his Weekly radio address the President said, "I'm pleased to sign the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act. This bipartisan legislation authorizes funding for AIDS treatment and prevention programs worldwide, and increases investment in vaccines for the world's children, including AIDS vaccine research. I hope Congress will also approve our vaccine tax credit to speed development of such critical vaccines for the developing world.
"Fighting AIDS worldwide is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing. In our tightly connected world, infectious disease anywhere is a threat to public health everywhere. AIDS threatens the economies of the poorest countries, the stability of friendly nations, the future of fragile democracies. Already HIV-AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa, and increasingly threatens Asia and the states of the former Soviet Union. In the hardest-hit countries, AIDS is leaving students without teachers, patients without doctors, and children without parents. Today alone, African families will hold nearly 6,000 funerals for loved ones who died of AIDS."
