US Presidency
2002

We'll help build better health care systems by pairing hospitals in America and hospitals in Africa, so that African hospitals can gain more expertise in administering effective AIDS programs. We'll also send volunteer medical professionals from the United States to assist and train their African counterparts. And we will recruit and pay African medical and graduate students to provide testing, treatment and care. This major commitment of my government to prevent mother to child HIV transmission is the first of this scale by any government, anywhere. In time, we will gain valuable experience, improve treatment methods, and sharpen our training strategies. Health care systems in targeted countries will get better. And this will make even more progress possible. And as we see what works, we will make more funding available. The United States already contributes approximately a billion dollars a year to international efforts to combat HIV or AIDS. In addition, we plan to spend more than $ 2.5 billion on research and development for new drugs and new treatments.