[Ip-health] Kucinich statement for World AIDS Day

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.kucinich.us/pressreleases/pr_120103a.php

Kucinich on World AIDS Day

For Immediate Release: December 1, 2003

Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich today released the following
statement:

"The Secretary General of the United Nations has called on world leaders to
aggressively combat the AIDS epidemic that is devastating Africa and making
serious inroads in Asia and around the world.  Kofi Annan has lamented the
lack of world leadership on this issue.  He is right to complain.  AIDS has
taken 28 million lives since 1981.  That's more than the soldiers who have
been killed in some of the biggest wars in human history.  But, in contrast
to the U.S. Pentagon budget of $400 billion plus additional hundreds of
billions for particular wars, President Bush pledged only $3 billion for the
fight against AIDS in his State of the Union address and then proposed only
$2 billion in his budget request.  Congressman Dick Durbin introduced an
amendment adding an extra $289 million and shamed the Republican leadership
into supporting the measure.  But this is far from sufficient.

"I am joining AIDSvote.org in committing to invest at least $30 billion over
the four years of my first term as president to the global fight against
AIDS.  As president, I will work to repeal trade agreements that impede
access to affordable generic drugs.  I will work to cause the IMF and the
World Bank to reduce and eventually eliminate the debt that takes poor
nations' resources away from crises like AIDS.  I will focus America's
leadership on addressing and ending this epidemic."