Date: 2008-04-02
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chairman. I rise today to show my support for H.R. 5501. the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/ AIDS. Tuberculosis. and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. This important bill will aim to address the devastating effects of AIDS. malaria. and tuberculosis on our global community. Numbers from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS show that since AIDS was identified in 1981. about 65 million people have been infected with HIV and more than 30 million have died from AIDS. These numbers include the figures from 2005 that show more than 2 million of .those living with HIV/AIDS were children and the daily infection of an estimated 1.500 children worldwide was due in large part to inadequate access to drugs that prevent the transmission from mother to child. Additionally. programs within the Department of Health and Human Services account for 71 percent of the total amount spent. with the U.S. as the largest single contributor to the Global Fund. an independent foundation dedicated to disbursing new resources in developing countries aimed at combating AIDS. tuberculosis and malaria. This bill will further these efforts that we started 5 years ago by raising the United States contribution to $50 billion over the next 5 years. I am also encouraged thatthis bill will encourage the development of a TB vaccine. The TB germ is constantly changing and drug resistant strains have been found in 28 countries on 6 continents. including right here in the United States. where it is estimated that 10 to -15 million people in the U.S. have latent TB. These drug resistant forms of TB have severe implications both internationally and domestically. The World Health Organization recently released its new tuberculosis drug resistance surveillance report. The WHO found that the MDR and XDR strains of TB are at their highest levels ever. Both of these strains are far deadlier than normal TB. and are much more difficult and expensive to treat. In fact. the Department of Homeland Security recently identified XDRTB as an "emerging threat to the homeland." For this reason. we need fo devote resources to stopping this disease and developing a new vaccine is the first step. This is not a partisan issue. Some of my colleagues might ask why an AIDS reauthorization bill should be the vehicle for doing this. there is a very simple reason. TB is.the number one infectious killer among people living with HIV/AIDS. and accounts for up to half of HIV/AIDS deaths in some parts of Africa. If we do not address TB in a systematic way and work to develop a vaccine. then much of the progress that we have made on addressing HIV/AIDS globally will be undone. Studies also show that the 10year economic benefits of a TB vaccine that was only 75 percent effective could result in an estimated savings of $25 billion dollars. There is no denying that this is a significant amount. Our current TB vaccine. BCG. is more than 85 years old and is not compatible against pulmonary TB. which accounts for most TB cases. This legislation is a good start in our critical battle against TB. Finally. I am happy to see that this bill will encourage publicprivate partnerships in combating these diseases. The Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative has been working in Africa for several years. and the govemment should work with this and similar programs to leverage the expertise that they can provide. I support these strong health initiatives across the globe and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.