Powell Urges Foreign Governments to Make AIDS Fight a Top Priority

Secretary of State Colin Powell encouraged ambassadors and other foreign diplomats at the State Department Tuesday to stress to their governments the importance of political leadership in fighting AIDS. "The positions we hold in our governments give our voices resonance at home and abroad," he told the gathering. "We can and we must use our voices to convince others of the urgency of this global problem." "HIV... undermines the social, economic and political systems that underpin entire nations and regions," he said.

The department invited 164 governments to hear Powell's speech, and 86 nations sent representatives. Powell stressed that world leaders must be educated about how the disease spreads and how it can be prevented and treated.

Powell cited Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who recognized early in his tenure the threat AIDS posed to the country's national security. Museveni personally oversaw the creation of a center for AIDS research studies and, as a result, Uganda has reduced infections by 50 percent since 1992.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson joined the gathering and said the government's $500 million two-year pledge made to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS is the fund's largest. "The United States is well aware that investing in global health is not only a matter of increasing economic growth or improving political stability, it will help us do nothing less than save the next generation."

But Tom Hart, government relations director for the Episcopal Church, said, "First, that's not saying much -- contributions are grossly inadequate, and the Global Fund needs $8 billion more in the next two years. Second, it's a very misleading claim, because European Union countries give far more as a share of their economy." Hart said the US economy matches that of the EU, which has committed $1.1 billion to the fund. Health GAP's Paul Davis said, "It's past time for the Bush administration to stop saying AIDS is a crisis and start treating it like one."

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