Tennessee Senators Examine AIDS Crisis in Africa

Speaking to reporters by telephone Monday from Gaborone, Botswana, Tennessee Republican Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander pledged to use their leadership positions in Congress to help Africa manage its AIDS crisis. "It's been an eye-opening and in many cases eye-popping experience," said Alexander, who chairs the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs. The two men are part of a six-senator delegation, led by Majority Leader Frist, traveling through Africa to get a firsthand account of how AIDS is affecting the continent.

Visits to clinics and other medical facilities, Alexander said, had cemented his belief that the United States should do more to send medical workers to countries like Botswana, where nearly 40 percent of the population is HIV-infected.

Alexander and Frist expressed support for the $2 billion a Senate committee has approved to fight global AIDS next year as part of President Bush's five-year, $15 billion initiative. Although Democrats and AIDS activists say the money is $1 billion short of what is needed, Frist said $2 billion is the "most appropriate level" for now. "What we have witnessed here is a lack of infrastructure, a lack of training, coupled with a stigma among the populations," said Frist, adding that "just money itself" would not solve those problems.

Tom Hart, director of government relations for DATA, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting AIDS, expressed disappointment at the funding and said it would be better to spend more money now to prevent additional infections and to get AIDS drugs quickly to people who need them.

The delegation has already visited South Africa and Mozambique; after Botswana, the senators will conclude their visit in Namibia. Accompanying Frist and Alexander are Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and John Warner (R-Va.).

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