US Presidency
2002

I want to thank Andrew Natsios, the Administrator of USAID. I appreciate Dr. Tony Fauci, the Director of NIH, for being here, as well, of the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Department. Thank you, Tony, for your hard work on this. I appreciate Senator Bill Frist and Senator Jesse Helms, for their vision on this issue. And I appreciate Jim Kolbe, from the House of Representatives. Thank you all for being here today. One of our best opportunities for progress against AIDS lies in preventing mothers from passing on the HIV virus to their children. Worldwide, close to 2,000 babies are infected with HIV every day, during pregnancy, birth or through breast feeding. Most of those infected will die before their 5th birthday. The ones who are not infected will grow up as orphans when their parents die of AIDS. New advances in medical treatment give us the ability to save many of these young lives. And we must, and we will.