Diane Watson: “we have already heard the figures of the number of Africans infected with HIV and AIDS. They are staggering, but deserve…”

“we have already heard the figures of the number of Africans infected with HIV and AIDS. They are staggering, but deserve to be repeated once again: sub-Saharan Africa has only 10 percent of the world's population, but accounts for 70 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases and 80 percent of all HIV/AIDS-related deaths. The infection rate in some African nations now exceeds 30 percent; and in a few countries, it is approaching 40 percent of the total population. Finally, the United States National Intelligence Council estimates that the disease could reduce the gross domestic product in some sub-Saharan Africa countries by as much as 20 percent or more by 2010. The social and economic consequences of this disease are not like any other public health threat that the world has faced in modern times. Important and hard-won economic gains made by African nations could be wiped out in less than a decade. Moreover, social dislocation caused by the high rates of death among HIV-infected mothers and fathers is already straining the outer bounds of fragile African nation states. H.R. 2069, and I commend the sponsors, authorizes additional spending levels in excess of $1 billion for bilateral and multilateral HIV/AIDS assistance to African nations that is more in keeping with our international assistance obligations.”