Importance of House HIV/AIDS legislation transcends political differences By Ileana Ros-Lehtinen April 29, 2008
	Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has approved bipartisan legislation to expand America's commitment to alleviating the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, it's time for the Senate to act. The bill — known as the Lantos-Hyde United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act — will extend for an additional five years the U.S. Government's global effort to prevent and treat some of the most deadly diseases. Since its inception in 2003, the U.S. emergency relief program has begun to slow the advance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. More than 1.4 million people infected with HIV are now being treated with the necessary drugs to fight this disease. U.S. assistance has supported HIV testing and counseling for 30 million people, and cared for nearly 6.7 million, including almost 3 million orphans and vulnerable children. We are on our way to achieving the five-year goal of preventing the infection of 7 million people and have supplied medicine for approximately 800,000 expectant mothers, preventing an estimated 157,000 infant HIV infections. Together, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria kill millions of people during their most productive years, between the ages of 16 and 50. In the hardest-hit countries, the AIDS epidemic alone is killing a generation of parents, teachers, health-care workers, bread-winners and peacekeepers, shattering the economic and social life of villages, communities, and, indeed, nations. Losses on this scale have staggered the economies of these countries. Without further prevention, treatment, and care efforts, the AIDS pandemic will continue to spread its mix of death, poverty, and despondency that is further destabilizing governments and societies and undermining the security of entire regions. Every American has a stake in this crisis. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is, first and foremost, a health issue, but it is also one of the most significant global economic and security threats of our generation. Mark Green, the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, wrote recently that the pandemic is "tearing apart the social fabric and leaving a generation of orphans," and suggested that "the scourge of HIV/AIDS could spread and create a long-term breeding ground for radicalism." Gen. Charles F. Wald, former deputy commander of the U.S. European Command, has called HIV/AIDS the third greatest threat to our national security, adding that PEPFAR, in addition to the obvious humanitarian benefits, "is one of our nation's development activities that can help strengthen the social structures that keep communities and nations secure." The threat is not just in far-away lands but also in our own hemisphere. Many countries in the Caribbean have been particularly hard hit, a fact addressed in the compromise bill by adding 14 Caribbean countries to the existing list of nations eligible to be included in our emergency relief programs. The House legislation I developed with Congressman Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, represents a bipartisan compromise, maintaining the broad support that has made disease prevention and treatment programs so successful during the last five years. As with any political compromise, difficult choices had to be made and both of us concluded that a collapse of the political consensus on this issue would do irreparable damage to what is arguably the most successful U.S. foreign assistance program of the last half century. We decided that political squabbling over the important but secondary issues on the periphery of the program would result in more lives being lost. We resolved to work together to create something that both sides could support and that would not only address the immediate needs of those currently afflicted, but would also focus on preventing the further spread of these diseases and on addressing their longer-term effects on societies as whole. The House bill accomplishes these goals, strengthening the framework of sustainable global health programs that partner with the people of developing countries and support them in their fight against disease. In the weeks ahead, the Senate has an opportunity to achieve something of significant and lasting importance by approving the Lantos-Hyde bill. In doing that, Congress will once again give testament to the extraordinary spirit and compassion that define us as Americans. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami serves as ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.   ######