[Ip-health] New Congress Can Save Lives, or Money

[Riaz K Tayob]

New Congress Can Save Lives, or Money

By Desmond Tutu

Special to washingtonpost.com Monday, January 15, 2007; 12:00 AM

The new Congress, led in the House by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is about to
make its first decision regarding how America's money should be spent -
a decision that leaves millions of lives hanging in the balance.
Congress's choice to bypass 2007 appropriations legislation and extend
fiscal 2006 funding levels into the new year will mean, in effect, cuts
of almost $1 billion in funding for programs to combat AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. If not reversed, the lack of funds will force
hundreds of thousands of people to forgo prevention, treatment, care and
support for the three most deadly infectious diseases in the world.

Many of the people most affected by Congress's decision will be my
fellow Africans. Around the world, the most poor and marginalized men,
women and children will suffer the consequences of flat-lined funding.
AIDS, TB and malaria are diseases of poverty; to truly address them,
sufficient aid must be reliably and properly channeled in solidarity
with the people who will receive it.

In bipartisan action last year, Congress approved as much as $4.37
billion for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 2007.
This increase would have given much-needed hope and opportunity to those
at risk of and suffering from these diseases. However, the joint funding
resolution (or "continuing resolution") the new Congress is expected to
pass would keep spending at 2006 levels, which would mean only $3.43
billion for AIDS, TB and malaria efforts - $940 million less. My heart
aches to think of the lives that could be saved with nearly $1 billion -
but there is still time for Speaker Pelosi, a longtime leader in the
fight against HIV-AIDS, to do something about it.

The U.S. government has repeatedly promised to combat HIV-AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria: At the United Nations Millennium Summit in
2000 and as a member of the Group of Eight the United States committed
to the goal of universal access for HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment by
2010. However, the funding resolution Congress is considering would
shortchange and potentially sabotage every American program to address
these diseases, leaving innocent people in its wake.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), for example, is
designed to have its funding increase each year in order to meet its goals.

If funding for 2007 is not increased from 2006 levels, it may be
impossible for the United States to continue making headway on the human
catastrophe that is HIV-AIDS. Staying at 2006 funding levels would
result in a loss of up to $700 million for the 15 PEPFAR focus
countries. As a result, 280,000 fewer people will be put on AIDS
treatment. That is 280,000 lives needlessly lost. In addition, 10
percent of all PEPFAR money goes to support orphans and other vulnerable
children. Children depend upon us to protect them. But without enough
money to continue expanding, PEPFAR will be another program that leaves
behind a generation of kids.

Multilateral programs will suffer as well. The Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a unique multilateral partnership based
on the needs expressed by affected countries, stands to lose out on
enough money for 555,000 HIV tests, 120,000 treatments for TB, and
945,000 bed nets to prevent malaria. That's more lives lost.

HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and the tens of thousands of orphaned
and vulnerable children are symptoms of our collective failure to
protect each other, to ensure that all people's basic needs and rights
are met, and to guarantee everyone a life of dignity. This failure is
very troubling to me.

It is a sign of our breakdown as one human family. Worldwide, we have
made stops and starts at healing this rift and keeping our promises to
one another. But if Congress does not act to restore that $1 billion for
global health, poverty alleviation and foreign aid, the rift will only
grow wider and healing will be further beyond our reach.

The United States has the potential to be a global leader. Congress has
the opportunity to remind the world of the good that can be done in the
name of the American people, to help people around the world build
better lives and restore our brotherhood and sisterhood. The promises
made to poor countries are not just words on paper. They concern the
lives of people who, in different circumstances, could be you or me.

As we honor the life and vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
today, I hope and pray that Congress will choose the righteous path, the
path that will save tens of thousands of lives and give countless
children opportunities and hope they have never before imagined. I join
the world in watching, and waiting for its decision.

The writer, an archbishop emeritus, is honorary chairperson of the
Global AIDS Alliance.

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm