THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                          (New York, New York)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  September 7, 2000

FACT SHEET

U.S. Efforts on HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases

The Clinton Administration is taking aggressive action on infectious diseases and strongly supports Secretary General Annan's call for stepped up international action to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The United States also joins Secretary General Annan's call for health research to be focused on problems that affect 90 percent of the world's people. Last year, AIDS killed 2.8 million people worldwide and is now the single leading cause of death in Africa; thirteen million sub-Saharan African children have now lost one or both of their parents to AIDS. Today, three million children still die from diseases preventable with vaccines that are already available, and more than five million children and adults die from diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS for which vaccines must be developed.

The recommendations of the UN Millennium Report are supported by the Clinton Administration's aggressive response to the challenges posed by global disease.

• On January 10, 2000, Vice President Gore chaired the first-ever United Nations Security Council Panel session on a health issue: HIV/AIDS as an international security threat.
• In his year 2000 State of the Union address, President Clinton announced the Administration's Millennium Vaccine Initiative to accelerate the development of malaria, TB and AIDS vaccines -- vaccines for which there is an enormous need, but little market incentive for industry to develop. The initiative calls for:

-$50 million in the President's 2001 budget as a contribution to the vaccine purchase fund of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI);

-U.S. leadership in the World Bank and other multilateral development banks to dedicate an additional $400 million to $900 million annually of low-interest rate loans to health care services;

-significant increases in basic research on diseases that affect developing nations;

-$1 billion tax credit for sales of vaccines for malaria, TB and AIDS to accelerate their development and production.

• On May 10, 2000, the President signed an Executive Order to help make HIV/AIDS-related drugs and medical technologies more affordable and accessible in beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries. Earlier this summer, the pharmaceutical industry announced an initiative to reduce prices for anti-retroviral drugs for developing countries.
• The Peace Corps has announced that all 2,400 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 25 countries in Africa will be trained as educators of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
• This Administration:

-is investing $2 billion annually for AIDS research, with over $210 million allocated to AIDS vaccine development - the best hope for conquering the disease;

-this year contributed $120 million to the international campaign to eradicate polio;

-made global AIDS and infectious diseases a top priority at the U.S.-European Union Summit in Portugal in May 2000 and the July 2000 G-8 Summit in Okinawa, where billions of dollars were mobilized from G-8 partners.

• President Clinton is asking Congress for an increase of $100 million
• to $342 million -- for international AIDS prevention and care in fiscal year 2001, more than double the FY 1999 level. Funds will be targeted to the countries where the disease is most widespread, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Priorities include stepped-up primary AIDS prevention efforts; care and treatment for those who are infected; care for children orphaned by AIDS; and strengthening the public health infrastructure that can prevent and control the disease. The United States has invested more than $1.4 billion in international AIDS programs since the start of the epidemic.
• Last month, President Clinton signed into law HR 3519, the "Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000," which authorizes funding for AIDS prevention and treatment programs worldwide and increases investment in vaccines for the world's children.

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