Bush signs bill to help fight AIDS abroad

? President Bush signed legislation Tuesday to nearly triple U.S. contributions toward fighting AIDS worldwide, but activists worried that the full $15 billion would never be approved and said even more money was needed to stop the disease’s spread.

A crowd of people who packed the State Department auditorium applauded as Bush signed the five-year global AIDS bill that he called a “great mission of rescue.” If fully implemented, the act aims to prevent 7 million new infections of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; care for 10 million HIV sufferers and AIDS orphans; and provide treatment for 2 million, especially in 12 African and two Caribbean countries where HIV/AIDS is concentrated.

“In the face of preventable death and suffering, we have a moral duty to act, and we are acting,” Bush said.

He said the money would be used to buy and deliver medicine, train health workers, build and equip clinics, train child care workers to attend to AIDS orphans, conduct HIV testing and provide home care. To help direct the aid, Bush said he soon will nominate a global AIDS coordinator, who will have the rank of ambassador.

The Bush administration says the program marks the largest single upfront commitment in history for an international public health initiative involving a specific disease. But while the bill specifies spending of $3 billion a year for five years, Congress must approve the actual outlays. Also, the Bush administration is seeking only $1.7 billion for AIDS for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 — $2 billion if related programs for malaria and tuberculosis are included.

“All $3 billion is urgently needed,” said Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

“We’re talking about real numbers, but not the numbers that can win this battle,” Sachs said, noting that hundreds of billions of dollars are going to Americans as tax cuts and to the war in and reconstruction of Iraq.

Since the House and Senate already have approved Bush’s budget request for AIDS spending, the president needs to seek an amendment to raise it to $3 billion, said Dr. Paul Zeitz, director of Global AIDS Alliance, an advocacy group based in Washington. “Funding for the bill is what matters now,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s a lot of empty rhetoric.”

The president said he plans to press other rich countries at the coming “Group of Eight” summit in Evian, France, to contribute more. The G-8 comprises leaders of the world’s seven richest industrial democracies — the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada — plus Russia.

“I will remind them that time is not on our side,” Bush said. “Every day of delay means 8,000 more AIDS deaths in Africa and 14,000 more infections.”