Friday, May 11 (Washington, DC/New York City) - Africa Action today denounced the Bush Administration's proposal to contribute a meager $200 million to a global fund for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases now being established through the United Nations. Responding to the White House's announcement that it would contribute only $200 million dollars for the proposed $10 billion U.N. fund, Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said "In the face of what will soon be the worst plague in human history, it's tragic that the richest country in human history is unwilling to contribute its fair share to finance the solution!" Booker added, "Underfunding this U.N. initiative means writing off the lives of millions of Africans and others living with HIV and AIDS, but signing death sentences especially for black people is nothing new to this president!"

The proposed UN initiative aims to unite prevention efforts and the provision of life-savings medicines in a new effort made possible by the recent drop in prices for anti-aids drugs. The price reductions themselves are the result of the growing protests of anti-aids activists worldwide and the market forces recently transformed by the entrance of developing country producers of generic versions of the previously expensive Western-patented antiretroviral drugs. The proposed fund also represents an effort to act upon the emerging global consensus that the world's AIDS crisis is solvable if patent laws are adjusted to ensure access to affordable medicines and if patients are provided appropriate treatment and care supported by adequate global funding.

For two decades, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has raced ahead of the global response. Over 50 million people have been infected, and 17 million have died in Africa. Although there is no cure yet, antiretroviral drugs can now turn a certain death sentence for millions into years of productive life. According to Africa Action President Wyatt Tee Walker, "The failure to prevent such deaths, when the means are available, will increasingly be recognized for what it is - the equivalent of mass murder." According to Africa Action, AIDS is more than a disease, it is a manifestation of a global apartheid whereby access to the full spectrum of human rights, including access to healthcare, is largely determined by race, gender and class.

Addressing a protest in front of the White House, Booker said, "The White House doesn't care about the Black Death! AIDS is the black plague: its epicenter is Africa, the region with the next highest infection rate is the Caribbean, and here in the U.S. -- the region ranked third -- infection rates are increasing mainly among people of color. Though AIDS knows no borders and does not discriminate by race, at present it is mainly killing black people. And that is the cruel truth of why the White House is unwilling to respond with the needed resources." Booker added, "Tomorrow's headlines ought to read: President Bush to Africa: Drop Dead!'"

Africa Action, the oldest advocacy organization in the US concerned with African affairs, will launch a campaign for "Africa's Right to Health" during the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in late June aimed at changing U.S. policies. Africa Action advocates the following:

• African countries must be freed of the burden of foreign debt so that they can allocate more of their own resources on healthcare. Presently most African countries spend more on repaying "debts" to rich countries than on healthcare for their own citizens.
• Countries must also be free to exercise their full rights to obtain essential drugs at the lowest possible cost, including the use of generic manufacturing and imports.
• Major increases in funding are also essential. Cost estimates vary for the different components of a full-scale response to the global health emergency. Treatment for the estimated 2.4 million Africans infected with HIV who could benefit from antiretroviral treatment, according to one recent estimate, would cost approximately $2.7 billion a year. UNAIDS estimates at least $3 billion a year for needed prevention efforts in Africa. Add in treatment of related diseases, necessary health infrastructure development, and costs in other developing regions such as India and China where the pandemic is beginning to spread more rapidly, and the total required easily falls in the $15 billion to $20 billion a year range. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a global fund of a more modest amount of $7 to $10 billion a year to support a broad developing world campaign against the AIDS pandemic.

Even the highest figure, however, is less than one penny out of each ten dollars of the gross national product of the world's rich countries. It is a small price to pay to save millions of lives. It is a also a prudent investment, because failing to pay that price will result in untold human suffering and profound economic collapse that will ultimately require even greater expense. The $200 million announced by President Bush is equal to the price for one F-22 fighter jet, and less than 1% of the proposed $1.35 trillion tax cut that will mostly benefit the richest 1% of Americans. Africa Action proposes that the U.S. set aside 5% of the budget surplus each year to help finance global public health efforts such as the proposed AIDS initiative. Booker stated that, "Such an approach would send a signal that the U.S. shares a sense of global responsibility rather than regarding globalization only as an opportunity for corporate profit."

He added, "Africa Action believes the real question is how much inequality are we prepared to accept in the world today?"

For more information visit our website: http://www.africapolicy.org