Herb Kohl: “yesterday, I was pleased to join Senators Durbin, DeWine and others in sponsoring an amendment to increase funding to…”

“yesterday, I was pleased to join Senators Durbin, DeWine and others in sponsoring an amendment to increase funding to fight AIDS around the world. It is imperative that we do all we can to stem the spread of this deadly and devastating disease. The latest statistics tell a grim story: The AIDS epidemic claimed more than 3 million lives in 2002, and an estimated 5 million people acquired the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, in 2002, bringing to 42 million the number of people globally living with the virus. While we are most familiar with the presence of AIDS in Africa, especially sub- Saharan Africa, AIDS is rapidly expanding throughout Eastern Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. By 2010, it is estimated that approximately 40 million children worldwide will have lost one or both of their parents to HIV/AIDS. The amendment adopted by the Senate would increase our commitment to the United States Agency for International Development's Child Survival and Health Programs Fund by $180 million. Of that amount, $100 million is for a U.S. contribution to the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and $25 million is available for transfer to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to help in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. This amount will bring the total U.S. contribution for Fiscal Year 2003 in the fight against global AIDS to $1.525 billion.”