AMERICAN President-elect Barack Obama intends to progressively increase US funding for AIDS in African countries. In a position statement on the epidemic, Obama pledged to allocate $50b by 2013 to fight AIDS globally.
Though details are yet to be worked out, Uganda has been one of the main recipients of American AIDS money.
Obama will not insist that part of the money be tied to programmes aimed at promoting virginity or faithfulness in marriage.
According to the five-page document posted on his campaign website www.barackobama.com he will support programmes that have been proved to prevent the spread of HIV, regardless of the ideology.
The money will also be used to give free treatment to more AIDS patients, care for orphans, train health workers and provide better hospital facilities.
Uganda is one of the 15 countries that have been receiving money under George Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which Obama has promised to strengthen and expand. Obama was one of the senators who strongly supported an extension of PEPFAR in July.
The PEPFAR communications officer at the US Kampala embassy, Lynne McDermott, told Saturday Vision that they do not expect any changes soon. What appears on Obama’s campaign website is what he plans to do, which is subject to approval by the US Congress.
“In two months he will become President and then we will know what will happen. Until then, only his transition team can speak for his administration,” she said. “But we are hopeful PEPFAR money will continue coming to Uganda.”
Obama, who openly took an HIV test together with his wife during a visit to Kenya in 2006, believes freedom from fear of AIDS is as important as political freedom.
Former Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan rice, said by taking the test, Obama sent a message to the world that people living with HIV/AIDS deserve compassion and treatment and not stigmatisation.
“America, under President Obama, will play a crucial role in helping defeat the AIDS epidemic that afflicts an estimated 33 million human beings,” she said in a statement posted on Obama’s website.
Obama’s AIDS plan is closely linked to a speech that he made in December 2006 following his visit to Kenya and South Africa. “We are all sick because of AIDS – and we are all tested by this crisis. … Yes, there must be more money spent on this disease.”
“Of course, given all the strains that have been placed on the US budget, and given the extraordinary needs that we face here at home, it may be hard to find the money. But I believe we must try. I believe it will prove to be a wise investment. The list of reasons for us to care about AIDS is long.”
The news that Obama will focus on AIDS at the very start of his presidency has been greeted with happiness in Uganda.
Milly Katana, head of the international AIDS Alliance project in Uganda, said though President George Bush prioritised AIDS only towards the end of his first term, he has been able to achieve a lot through PEPFAR, which started in 2004.
Since Obama has started early, he is likely to achieve more. “We commend President Bush and hope Obama will follow in his footsteps and take it a step further.”
James Kigozi, Uganda AIDS Commission Public Relations Officer, said if implemented, Obama’s plan would provide major relief to the huge number of AIDS patients waiting for treatment.
“We have about 250,000 people in Uganda who need antiretroviral treatment but only half are getting it now. At the treatment centres the waiting list is long,” he said.
He added that the original PEPFAR had some restrictions that some partners were complaining about.
The money could not be used for buying generic drugs, and one third of the money used in HIV prevention had to be spent on abstinence programmes. Without such restrictions, Kigozi said, will open up new opportunities.
However, Obama’s cash is likely to come with tough controls. He is known to be strongly anti-corruption. During his visit to Kenya, he was not afraid to openly speak against corruption.
Excerpts from Obama’s speech on AIDS made on World AIDS Day December 1, 2006
We are all sick because of AIDS - and we are all tested by this crisis. It is a test not only of our willingness to respond, but of our ability to look past the artificial divisions and debates that have often shaped that response. It’s not a question of either treatment or prevention - or even what kind of prevention - it is all of the above. Yes, there must be more money spent on this disease. But there must also be a change in hearts and minds; in cultures and attitudes. First, if we hope to win this fight, we must stop new infections - we must do what we can to prevent people from contracting HIV in the first place.
Too often, the issue of prevention has been framed in either/or terms. For some, the only way to prevent the disease is for men and women to change their sexual behaviour - in particular, to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.
For others, such a prescription is unrealistic; they argue that we need to provide people with the tools they need to protect themselves from the virus, regardless of their sexual practices - in particular, by increasing the use of condoms, as well as by developing new methods, like microbicides, that women can initiate themselves to prevent transmission during sex.
I don't think we can deny that there is a moral and spiritual component to prevention. I also believe that we cannot ignore that abstinence and fidelity may too often be the ideal and not the reality - that we are dealing with flesh and blood men and women and not abstractions - and that if condoms and potentially microbicides can prevent millions of deaths, they should be made more widely available. I know that there are those who, out of sincere religious conviction, oppose such measures.
And with these folks, I must respectfully but unequivocally disagree. I do not accept the notion that those who make mistakes in their lives should be given an effective death sentence. Nor am I willing to stand by and allow those who are entirely innocent - wives who, because of the culture they live in, often have no power to refuse sex with their husbands, or children who are born with the infection as a consequence of their parent’s behaviour -suffer when condoms or other measures would have kept them from harm.
Another area where we can make significant progress in prevention is by removing the stigma that goes along with getting tested for HIV-AIDS. The idea that in some places, nine in ten people with HIV have no idea they're infected is more than frightening - it’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.
Of course, even as we work diligently to slow the rate of new infection, we also have a responsibility to treat the 40 million people who are already living with HIV. In some ways, this should be the easy part. Because we know what works. We know how to save people's lives. We know the medicine is out there and we know that wealthy countries can afford to do more. One of the miracles to come out of the AIDS pandemic is that scientists have discovered medicine that can give people with HIV a new chance at life.
We need a renewed emphasis on nutrition. Right now we're finding out that there are people who are on the drugs, who are getting treatment, who are still dying because they don’t have any food to eat. This is inexcusable - especially in countries that have sufficient food supplies. President Bush and this past Congress should be applauded for the resources they have contributed to the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Our first priority in Congress should be to reauthorise this programme when it expires in 2008. Our second priority should be to reassess what’s worked and what hasn’t so that we’re not wasting one dollar that could be saving someone’s life.
But our third priority should be to boost our contribution to this effort. Of course, given all the strains that have been placed on the US budget, and given the extraordinary needs that we face here at home, it may be hard to find the money. But I believe we must try. I believe it will prove to be a wise investment.
