Date: 2008-04-02
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for the time. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. During his 2003 State of the Union address. President Bush outlined a bold new plan to confront and combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS. tuberculosis. and malaria. Congress followed through and passed the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis and Malaria Act. known as the Presidents Emergency Plan For Aids Relief. PEPFAR. authorizing $15 billion in assistance to combat these diseases for fiscal years 2004 through 2008. That was the -largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative fighting a single disease. Since its enactment in 2003. the programs created by this landmark legislation have made admirable progress in combating those horrible diseases. So far more than 1.4 million people have received lifepreserving antiretroviral treatment. over 2.7 million HIV/AIDSaffected orphans have received care. and many millions more have received instruction on how to protect themselves from infection. Tens of millions of people have received malaria and tuberculosis prevention or treatment services. Even though this program has achieved remarkable successes. there ig more that we can do. Tuberculosis still kills an estimated 2 million people each year and is the leading cause of death for people with AIDS. One million people die from malaria each year. AIDS is the worlds fourth leading cause of death. The devastating consequences of these diseases are plaguing subSaharan Africa. Over 22.5 million people are living with HIV. and approximately 1.7 million additional subSaharan Africans Were infected with HIV last year. Just last year this horrible AIDS epidemic claimed the lives of an estimated 1.6 million people in that region. More than 11 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Many families are losing their income earners. Health services are overburdened. Life expectancy in subSaharan Africa is now 47 years. Economic activity and social progress is impeded. We must do all we can to prevent these tragedies. The underlying legislation. justly -and appropriately named the Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis. and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. will dramatically augment our commitment to fight these horrible diseases with an increase of approximately $35 billion in funding for a total of $50 billion over 5 years. Some of my constituents are immigrants from Haiti and have family and friends in their land of origin. I often hear about the disastrous effects that HIV/AIDS is having on that country. As of 2007. Haiti had an HIV rate of almost 4 percent. Thankfully. since Congress passed PEPFAR we have invested over $300 million to help Haiti combat the AIDS pandemic by building on existing clinic and communitybased health resources. expanding a network of satellite connections to the Centers of Excellence to permit instant review of difficult bases. training staff members of health care facilities that provide prenatal. gynecological and maternity care in provision of prevention of mothertochild HIV transmission. and enhancing the lab network for clinical sites to support the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and other associated infections. I am pleased the legislation will also now cover several other countries that were previously not part -of PEPFAR. As I said yesterday in the Rules Committee. when we look upon our work in Congress many years from now. I can think of nothing that we or anyone else will be able to point to that is of more importance than this admirable effort by the great and generous American people. this massive effort proposed by President Bush here in the United States House of Representatives during his State of the Union Address of 2003. the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. I would like to thank Chairman BERMAN and Ranking Member RosLEHTINEN and Chairman PAYNE and Ranking Member SMITH for their marvelous bipartisan. very hard work on this impqrtant issue. I also wish to thank them for naming this landmark program for two ultimately respected colleagues of ours who have recently left us. Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos. This is truly a fitting tribute for two remarkable human beings and public servants. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.