Elijah Cummings: “I support the Kilpatrick amendment to add $300 million to the Global AIDS Fund under the Child Survival and Health…”

“I support the Kilpatrick amendment to add $300 million to the Global AIDS Fund under the Child Survival and Health Programs Account of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004. I applaud my friends Carolyn Kilpatrick and Barbara Lee for their valiant work on this issue. There is no denying the need for increasing AIDS and HIV funding in Africa. AIDS and HIV have reached pandemic proportions--these diseases are literally killing a continent and leaving a generation of orphans in their wake. As a global community, we are at a crisis stage with these diseases, and adequate funding for the prevention and treatment of infectious disease, especially HIV and AIDS, must come before it is too late. As the richest and most scientifically advanced nation in the world, we have both the power and the responsibility to take the necessary actions to help eradicate HIV/AIDS and other dangerous infectious diseases worldwide. Mr. Chairman, today more than 30 million Africans are living with HIV. Last year, an estimated 2.4 million new infectious occurred, while 3.5 million people lost their lives to the disease. This is a problem of epidemic proportion. I can only imagine the pain and suffering of the millions of families, orphaned children and those afflicted with this disease waiting for relief in any form. The time for action is now, lives are wasting.”