WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, flanked by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, announced on Friday the United States would contribute $200 million to a global AIDS fund.
"We must all show leadership and all share responsibility. For our part I'm today committing the United States of America to support a new worldwide fund with a founding contribution of $200 million," Bush said at a ceremony in the Rose Garden.
The U.N. plan to create a war chest to fight AIDS calls for financing from rich countries as well as private contributors. Annan says $7 billion to $10 billion is needed annually to combat the disease compared to the $1 billion currently spent.
The United States is the first country to commit to the fund, but AIDS activists have criticized the $200 million contribution as paltry.
"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," said Salih Booker, director of Africa Action, an advocacy group protesting outside the White House.
Cornelius Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic which treats people with HIV/AIDS in the Washington area, said although the money was welcome more was needed.
"Obviously the need is so much greater. With (Annan) asking for $7 billion to $10 billion, then the United States, as the richest country in the world, should be talking in billions instead of millions," he said.
U.S. MONEY LATER
Bush noted that the U.S. contribution to the fund was in addition to $760 million already budgeted for this year to spend on the international effort to fight AIDS.
The president, who said "the sheer number of those affected and dying is almost beyond comprehension," added that more U.S. money would be made available when Washington had established where its support would be most effective.
Annan, who proposed the global fund last month at an African summit in Nigeria, applauded the United States for its contribution but noted a good deal more money was needed.
"As we declare global war on AIDS, we will need a war chest to fight it," Annan said after Bush's announcement. "We need to mobilize an additional $7 (billion) to $10 billion a year to fight this disease well."
"To defeat this epidemic that haunts humanity, and to give hope to the millions infected with the virus, we need a response that matches the challenge," Annan said.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, hosted an African summit on AIDS last month attended by former President Bill Clinton. He told the conference he thought the United States could easily afford to contribute as much as $1.75 billion.
More than 22 million people have died worldwide since the AIDS epidemic began in the 1970s.
Africa is hardest hit by the disease, home to more than 70 percent of the world's 36 million people infected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
THE POWER TO HELP
"In a part of the world where so many have suffered from war and
want and famine, these latest tribulations are the cruelest of fates,"
Bush said.
"We have the power to help," he added. "The United States is
committed to working with other nations to reduce suffering and to spare
lives. And working together is the key."
Obasanjo, saying Bush had given hope to Africa and particularly the millions of Africans infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, called on other countries, corporations and foundations to add to the AIDS war chest.
Annan said the purpose of the global fund was to pull together all the AIDS initiatives into one clear proposal. The fund has five goals: prevention, combating transmission from mother to child, care and treatment within everyone's reach, research for a cure against AIDS and special care for the more than 13 million "AIDS orphans."
After returning to New York he said the World Bank would administer the monies for the fund. An independent board would be set up to decide on programs and include representative from U.N. agencies, private groups and donor countries.
Reuters May 11 2001 4:31PM