SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assistance for Orphans
and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries
Act of 2004’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1)(A) According to estimates by the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are more
than 132,000,000 children in the world under the
age of three.
(B) Of these children, 4,000,000 will die in
their first month of life and another 7,000,000 will
die each year before reaching the age of five. Thus
an average of 30,000 children under the age of three
die each day.
(2) According to a report developed by the
United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), UNICEF, and the United States Agen-
cy for International Development, in 2001 there
were more than 110,000,000 orphans living in sub-
Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Carib-
bean.
(3) Assessments carried out by the Inter-
national Labor Organization (ILO) to investigate
the situation of children who are working found that
orphans are much more likely than non-orphans to
be working in commercial agriculture, the domestic
service industry, prostitution, as street vendors, or
in industries that violate internationally recognized
rights of children.
(4) Infants who are poor and malnourished are
more likely to contract respiratory infections, diar-
rhea, measles, and other preventable diseases, and
are less likely to receive needed health care.
(5) According to UNAIDS and UNICEF, by
the end of 2001 there were an estimated 14,000,000
children under the age of 15 who had lost one or
both parents to AIDS.
(6) As the number of HIV cases increases in
sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, as well as in
Eastern Europe and Asia, the death rate from AIDS
among adults in those regions is expected to in-
crease. By 2010 the total number of children in
those regions who will lose one or both parents to
AIDS is expected to be approximately 30,000,000.
(7) One-third of children born from an HIV-in-
fected mother develop HIV/AIDS. Few of these chil-
dren have access to HIV/AIDS medications.
(8) Globally, more than 11,800,000 young peo-
ple ages 15 to 24 were living with HIV/AIDS in
2001, and each day another 6,000 young people be-
came infected with HIV. New estimates indicate that
more than 70 percent of new HIV cases among this
age group in sub-Saharan Africa are young women
and girls.
(9) As their parents fall progressively sick from
HIV/AIDS, children generally must take on an in-
creasing number of responsibilities. Girls take re-
sponsibility for more household chores, often drop
out of school, and care for their parents.
(10)(A) Without an adequate diet, individuals
infected with HIV often die at an earlier age. Indi-
viduals with HIV become increasingly weak and fa-
tigued, do not respond to drug treatment, and are
prone to other illnesses such as malnutrition and tu-
berculosis (TB).
(B) Hunger can also cause previously HIV-neg-
ative people to engage in high-risk survival strategies
that increase their chances of becoming infected with
HIV.
(11) Extreme poverty and hunger coupled with
the loss of one or both parents as a result of AIDS
can force children from their families to a life on the
streets, where the risk of HIV infection is extremely
high.
(12)(A) A considerable number of United
States and indigenous private voluntary organiza-
tions, including faith-based organizations, provide
assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children
in developing countries, especially children affected
by HIV/AIDS.
(B) Many of these organizations have submitted
applications for grants from the United States Agen-
cy for International Development in order to provide
increased levels of assistance for orphans and other
vulnerable children in developing countries but in
most cases the Agency has not approved the applica-
tions.
(13)(A) Section 403(b) of the United States
Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and
Malaria Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–25) estab-
lishes the requirement that for fiscal years 2006
through 2008, not less than 10 percent of amounts
appropriated for HIV/AIDS assistance for each such
fiscal year shall be expended for assistance for or-
phans and other vulnerable children affected by
HIV/AIDS.
(B) Further, section 403(b) of Public Law
108–25 requires that at least 50 percent of such
amounts shall be provided through non-profit, non-
governmental organizations, including faith-based
organizations, that implement programs on the com-
munity level.
(14)(A) It is essential that the United States
Government adopt a comprehensive approach for the
provision of assistance to orphans and other vulner-
able children in developing countries.
(B) This comprehensive approach should ensure
that important services, such as basic care, treat-
ment for those children with HIV/AIDS, mental
health and related services for those children af-
fected by HIV/AIDS, school food programs, in-
creased educational opportunities and employment
training and related services, and the protection and
promotion of inheritance rights, are made more ac-
cessible.
(C) This comprehensive approach should also
ensure that government agencies and the private
sector coordinate efforts to prevent and eliminate
duplication of efforts and waste.
(15) As a result of the numerous United States
Government programs under which assistance is spe-
cifically authorized or otherwise available for or-
phans and vulnerable children in developing coun-
tries, the United States Agency for International
Development will be required to develop innovative
methods for the conduct and monitoring of these
programs, including through the collection, analysis,
and reporting of information on the programs and
the extent to which such programs provide assist-
ance directly and indirectly to such children.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE.
The primary purpose of this Act, and the amend-
ments made by this Act, is to provide assistance to or-
phans and other vulnerable children, especially such chil-
dren affected by HIV/AIDS, and in particular, for such
children in countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. To
the maximum extent practicable, such assistance shall be
provided for the direct benefit to such orphaned and vul-
nerable children.
SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNER-
ABLE 
CHILDREN 
IN 
DEVELOPING 
COUN-
TRIES.
Title V of chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2201) is amended to read
as follows: