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Loading ...Africa AIDS activists slam US funding shortfall
05.20.2009 4:45pm EDT
(Nairobi) Health activists say that a shortfall in promised U.S. funding for HIV/AIDS projects would affect over 30 million people and means President Barack Obama risks reversing the gains made by his predecessor.
“Such projects are like planes … they must have a forward momentum or they will stall and crash,” said Dr. Paul Zeitz, the executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance.He singled out a reduced rate of funding for President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a pet project of President George W. Bush that is credited with saving millions of lives.
On the campaign trail, Obama promised to expand by PEPFAR by a billion dollars a year. But Zeitz said the budget Obama’s administration submitted this month does not contain any significant increase, maintaining funding levels at a steady US$6 billion a year.
He said this and lower-than-promised commitments to other anti-HIV/AIDS projects mean one million people will not get lifesaving drugs. In total, he said, there was a US$3.3 billion shortfall in U.S support for global AIDS funding and bilateral AIDS programs.
The White House had no immediate comment.
But Zeitz questioned whether funding other health initiatives had to come at the cost of HIV/AIDS programs, pointing out spending on military projects and in other places continue to rise.
“It is not a question about whether we have the money … it is a question about priorities,” he told journalists at a hotel in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Rolake Odetoyimbo, from the Pan African Treatment Movement in Nigeria, said Obama’s failure to live up to his commitment meant other countries were likely to spend less on the fight against AIDS.
“We are concerned that he is setting a bad example,” she said.
At the end of 2007, 33 million people were living with HIV, according to the World Health Organization. Two-thirds of HIV infections are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Oh, they don’t want our 6 billion dollars because its not increasing by another billion when our economy is in the crapper? K, lets put that money back into the US then, where people are in need of a source of employment and god knows several states need better education systems.
So maybe I’m just a gigantic douche but… who cares? I’m sorry but when our economy is suffering and people are losing jobs and can’t afford food in our own country, we’re supposed to be concerned with crusading. We’ve been crusading for too long. Somewhere along the way we decided that us being at the top meant that we didn’t just have to set an example we had to actively try and shape the world. Well… I’m an American… regardless if they are currently willing to grant me the same rights others enjoy just out of the grace of being born straight… I would never deny my fellow American’s for the sake of citizens in other countries. Those people that complain that we need to do more and it’s only “about priorities”… you’re right it is about priorities and the red white and blue is prioritizing that the red white and blue is number one on the list at the moment
PEPFAR is a $6,000,000,000 mistake all around. Instead of focusing on education and prevention, money is funneled into corrupt African state health care systems.
While I feel for anyone who is sick with anything, I really cannot support shipping $6 billion dollars worth of American taxpayer money to Africa to prop up their health care systems when so many Americans lack even basic health care. It just seems so wrong.
I also believe that the fight against HIV worldwide would be more effective if completely geared toward education and prevention. It costs less than 10 cents to prevent an AIDS infection, but over $1,000 per month for expensive drug therapies. When resources are limited, you should focus on getting the most effective solutions for the money. Expensive drugs for those already infected do nothing to solve the problem. We need to prevent all further infections and stop HIV from spreading. It is totally preventable.
Well I dont often agree with Trace, but I must say I totally agree!
how about a freaking THANK YOU from all these other countries. We have to clean up our own house before tending to others. How many of these countries have LGBT rights? Only one I know in Africa is South Africa!
Maybe I missed when Africa became the 51’s state? There are many US Citizens that are in need of Aids and HIV funding and are being hit hard by the economic times.
How pathetic it is to here someone in another country saying “you’re not giving us enough” rather than “thank you for doing what you have done.”
Sucks to be a leader doesn’t it- When we tend to our own economic wounds the world holds us responsible. Others get to decide what our priorities should be. Give us your money- we count more than they do/ that does-
It sucks we can’t be everything to everyone but I think we do our best and when the economy stops taking a hit so will what the economy makes possible.