[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 19 (Monday, May 14, 2001)]
[Pages 733-735]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of
Nigeria and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
May 11, 2001
Global Fund To Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis
President Bush. It is my honor to welcome our friend, the President
of Nigeria, to the Rose Garden. Mr. President, welcome to Washington,
the Rose Garden. And of course, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, Mr. Secretary-General, thank you for coming.
As well, we are joined by two members of my Cabinet: Secretary of
State Powell, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. I
want to thank them both for being here. Scott Evertz, who is the
Director of the National AIDS Policy Office is with us. Scott, thank you
for being here. And of course, Condoleezza Rice, the National Security
Adviser.
I am looking forward to meeting with the President on a range of
issues that are important to our nations. This morning, we've spoken
about another matter that involves countless lives. Together, we've been
discussing a strategy to halt the spread of AIDS and other infectious
diseases across the African continent and across the world.
The devastation across the globe left by AIDS, malaria,
tuberculosis, the sheer number of those infected and dying is almost
beyond comprehension. Suffering on the African continent has been
especially great. AIDS alone has left at least 11 million orphans in
sub-Sahara Africa. In several African countries, as many as half of
today's 15-year-olds could die of AIDS. In a part of the world where so
many have suffered from war and want and famine, these latest
tribulations are the cruelest of fates.
We have the power to help. The United States is committed to working
with other nations to reduce suffering and to spare lives, and working
together is the key. Only through sustained and focused international
cooperation can we address problems so grave and suffering so great.
My guests today have been doing their part and more, and I thank
them for their leadership. President Obasanjo last month led the nations
of Africa in drafting the Abuja declaration which lays out crucial
guidelines for the international effort we all envision. Secretary-
General Annan, too, has made this issue an urgent priority. He has been
an eloquent voice in rallying the resources and conviction needed in
this cause. When he visited the White House in March, we talked about
the AIDS pandemic. We agreed on the goal of creating a global fund to
fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The G-8 has been discussing
the potential fund.
Our high-level task force chaired by Secretaries Powell and Thompson
has developed a proposal that we have shared with U.N. officials,
developing nations, and our G-8 partners. We will need ideas from all
sources. We must all show leadership and all share responsibility.
For our part, I am today committing the United States of America to
support a new worldwide fund with a founding contribution of $200
million. This is in addition to the billions we spend on research and to
the $760 million we're spending this year to help the international
effort to fight AIDS. This $200 million will go exclusively to a global
fund, with more to follow as we learn where our support can be most
effective.
Based on this morning's meetings I believe a consensus is forming on
the basic elements that must shape the global fund and its use. First,
we agree on the need for partnerships across borders and among both the
public and private sectors. We must call upon the compassion, energy,
and generosity of people everywhere. This means that not only
governments can help but also private corporations, foundations, faith-
based groups, and nongovernmental organizations, as well.
Second, we agree on an integrated approach that emphasizes
prevention and training of medical personnel as well as treatment and
care. Prevention is indispensable to any strategy of controlling a
pandemic such as we now face.
Third, we must concentrate our efforts on programs that work, proven
best practices. Whenever the global fund supports any health program, we
must know that it meets certain essential criteria. We must know that
the money is well spent, victims are well
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cared for, and local populations are well served.
That leads to the fourth criterion, namely that all proposals must
be reviewed for effectiveness by medical and public health experts.
Addressing a plague of this magnitude requires scientific accountability
to ensure results.
And finally, we understand the importance of innovation in creating
lifesaving medicines that combat diseases. That's why we believe the
fund must respect intellectual property rights, as an incentive for
vital research and development.
This morning we have made a good beginning. I expect the upcoming
U.N. Special Session and this summer's G-8 summit in Italy to turn these
ideas into reality. This is one of those moments that reminds us all in
public service why we're here. It challenges us to act wisely and act
together and to act quickly. Across the world at this moment, there are
people in true desperation, and we must help.
It is now my honor to bring to the podium, the President of Nigeria.
Mr. President.
President Obasanjo. Mr. President, Secretary-General of the U.N. I
am particularly grateful to you, President Bush, for making this
ceremony to coincide with my visit to you here at the White House in
Washington, DC, on your very kind invitation.
When African leaders gathered in Abuja, 2 weeks ago, to indicate
their unflinching commitment to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS and
related diseases, the joint message of the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of Health was brought to us as a message of hope from the
United States of America. Today, Mr. President, you have begun to
concreteize that hope for Africa and particularly for millions of
Africans infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
We are still far from the $7 billion to $8 billion annually that
experts reckon will be needed to make impression on the ravaging effects
of this dreadful scourge. But with this beginning, and just the
beginning as you have kindly emphasized, for the U.S., all nations,
governments, foundations, private individuals, and private sector and,
indeed, all human kind who are stakeholders in the health of humanity
are challenged and called upon to make contributions to the global trust
fund for HIV/AIDS and related diseases.
Mr. President, I thank you, on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in the
world, but particularly on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in Africa, for
launching the global fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic.
President Bush. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Mr.
Secretary-General.
Secretary-General Annan. President Bush, President Obasanjo. I wish
to thank you, President Bush, for committing yourself today to placing
the United States at the forefront of the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
It is a visionary decision that reflects your Nation's natural
leadership in the United Nations, as well as your recognition of the
threat posed by this global catastrophe.
To defeat this epidemic that haunts humanity and to give hope to the
millions infected with the virus, we need a response that matches the
challenge. We should now build on the remarkable progress over the last
year in galvanizing global awareness of the threat of HIV/AIDS.
I believe we can all agree on five key objectives for our response:
First, to ensure that people everywhere, particularly young people, know
what to do to avoid infection; second, to stop perhaps the most tragic
form of HIV transmission, from mother to child; third, to provide
treatment for all those infected; fourth, to redouble the search for
vaccine as well as cure; and fifth, to care for all those whose lives
have been devastated by AIDS, particularly the orphans, and there are an
estimated 13 million of them worldwide today, and their numbers are
growing.
As we declare global war on AIDS, we will need a war chest to fight
it. We need to mobilize an additional $7 million to $10 million a year
to fight this disease worldwide. The global AIDS and health fund that I
have called for as part of this total effort would be open to the
nations, as you heard from the two Presidents, from governments, civil
society, private sector, foundations, and individuals--all hands on
deck. And the resources provided must be over and above what is being
spent today on the disease and on development assistance to poor
countries.
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This founding contribution by the U.S. with the promise to do more
will encourage or energize others to act. Africa, of course, is the
continent that is most profoundly affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS,
and the continent most in need of hope for a better future.
The peoples and the leaders of the continent are rising to the
challenge, as President Obasanjo showed most recently by hosting the
Abuja AIDS Summit. However, we must not forget that other parts of the
world, from the Caribbean to Asia to eastern Europe, are also
confronting the spread of this virus and need urgent assistance.
Mr. President, it is my hope that your commitment today will set an
example for other leaders. When we meet at the General Assembly Special
Session on HIV/AIDS on the 25th of June in New York City, there will be
a strong support for the global AIDS and health fund. As that happens, I
believe today will be remembered as the day we began to turn the tide.
Thank you very much.
President Bush. It has been my honor to host this very important
announcement. It's also my honor to recognize two Members of the United
States Congress who are going to work with this administration to make
sure that our commitment becomes reality: Senator Frist and Senator
Leahy. We're so thrilled you're here. We appreciate your vision, and we
appreciate your leadership.
Thank you all for coming.
Note: The President spoke at 10:10 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
House.