U.S. Senate Committee Approves Global AIDS Fund Bill

As the world prepares for the international HIV/AIDS conference in Spain next month, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday night approved a measure authorizing activities at the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services to fight HIV/AIDS in developing nations. The bill specifically authorizes $400 million for the coming fiscal year for activities by the CDC, including programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, to prevent transmission at healthcare facilities, and other treatment and prevention activities.

"As we all know, a staggering 3 million people die of AIDS and an additional 5.5 million more are infected each year," said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who sponsored the measure with committee chair Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). "That means every 10 seconds a person dies and two more are infected -- a global total of 40 million people infected and 23 million more already dead. Of the 15,000 infected each day, 6,000 are youths between the ages of 15 and 24 and nearly 2,000 are babies who contract the disease from their mothers," Frist said.

With the bill, added Kennedy, "the United States will do its part to enable many other countries to turn the corner on AIDS." The measure, he said, would "promote models of community-based care that reach the people affected by this disease. It provides better access to the research and therapies needed to prevent transmission of this deadly disease. Most importantly, it funds research and treatment models to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS from mothers to their infants, including the family support services necessary to combat the orphan crisis."

The bill would also authorize $40 million for international HIV/AIDS activities at the Health Resources and Services Administration, including helping communities develop and institute systems of care to improve health infrastructure; $50 million for a "training partnership" to train healthcare personnel to provide HIV/AIDS services; and $10 million for the Department of Labor to develop programs to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS in workplaces.

Back to other CDC news for June 28, 2002

Previous Updates