Political Quotes

“the time is at hand for the United States to take another act of leadership in confronting one of the most important moral, humanitarian, and foreign policy decisions of the new century: How to stop the ravages of HIV/AIDS in Africa and other developing countries. History will indelibly record how the United States, along with other governments, other institutions, other foundations, and other civil societies, responds to the call. Inaction will be measured in millions of lives--lives lost, families destroyed, and economies ruined. The statistics tell the story. They are chilling. Twenty-two million people have died of AIDS worldwide, more than 3 million last year alone. That is over 8,000 per day or nearly 6 deaths every minute. That number is growing. Thirty-six million people are currently infected with HIV, a staggering number that is increasing by 15,000 new infections every day, mostly in the world's poorest countries. By 2010, 80 million persons could be dead of AIDS. That is more deaths than we saw in military and civilian forces suffered during all of World War II. In Africa, life expectancy has been reduced by nearly half in many countries. In the next decade, 40 million children will be orphaned by AIDS. That is a number equal to all children in this country living east of the Mississippi. The economic impact is devastating. An entire generation of workforce is being lost.”