LAST EDITED ON Jun-03-03 AT 03:56 PM (EDT)
 
The figure is actually $15 billion. That is still nothing to sneeze at, and well above the Clinton administration's contributions, which requested below $500 million for fighting AIDS in sub saharan African.

Note that at the time, that figure was well above what any other nation was contributing, so juding that contribution in the temper of its times (i.e., when the focuse was on a balanced budget), I think it's pretty partisan to criticize (i.e., that admin balanced the budget and contributed more than anyone else).

Still, what the Bush admin has done is commendable because it raises the bar to be on par with what researchers say is necessary for fighting AIDS.

HOWEVER, the point someone made about how that money gets spent is really important and shouldn't be tossed off. Cronyism and favoritism could (and has in the past) negatively influence the success of this $15 billion undertaking. Some of the past U.S. Govt. programs to fight AIDS have been set up to direct much of their drug procurement to large pharm companies, rather than trying to force the manufacture of generic anti-AIDS drugs. As a result, pharm companies get fat and the programs, however well-intentioned, become horribly inefficient and achieve far less than they really could in the war on AIDS.

That's exactly what happened with a Clinton admin. program to fight AIDS, and the Bush program could fall prey to the same kind of deal-making (especially considering that pharm companies direct the lion's share of their campaign contributions to GOP lawmakers).

If we are all genuinely serious about fighting AIDS, and not reaping political hay for either the DNC or the GOP, then we'll watch what happens with this $15 billion, right? RIGHT?

And why should you be genuinely serious about fighting AIDS in Africa of all places? Take a look at this chart from 2000:



A global epidemic IS our problem. Diseases ignore lines on a map. Now that global travel is so easy, all sorts of diseases we had BEAT in this country are finding their way back in.