US: Despite objections from conservative Republicans, President Bush yesterday called on Congress to pass in the next month a measure to triple US spending to tackle global AIDS. The move will benefit some groups who promote birth control.
Mr Bush first announced the surprise initiative in January in his State of the Nation speech which was largely devoted to preparing for war with Iraq.
The bill to authorise the spending of $3 billion a year over five years to combat AIDS has, however, met with a revolt of sorts from conservatives who are concerned about the emphasis on condoms as a way of tackling HIV infection.
The President did not refer to the divisive details of the programme when he staged a ceremony at the White House yesterday to urge support for the measure which would "turn the tide" against AIDS worldwide.
"Time is not on our side, so I ask Congress to move forward with the speed this crisis requires," Mr Bush told hundreds of invited guests crowded into the East Room, including Princess Zulu of Zambia, one of the 1.2 million people of that country who have HIV or AIDS. Her parents died of AIDS when she was in high school.
"Fighting AIDS on a global scale is a massive and complicated undertaking, but this cause is rooted in the simplest of moral duties," Mr Bush said.
"When we see this kind of preventible suffering, when we see a plague leaving graves and orphans across a continent, we must act."
Congress is likely to pass the AIDS bill next month as Mr Bush has the support of a key house member, chairman Henry Hyde of the International Relations Committee, who has solid conservative credentials and who has already secured passage of the bill through his committee.
Mr Hyde incorporated an "ABC" strategy known as the Ugandan model - A for Abstinence, B for Be Faithful and C for Condoms. His committee rejected an amendment saying promoting sexual abstinence and monogamy should have priority.
Some conservative organisations strongly object to the idea of taxpayers' money going to promote the promotion or use of contraceptives, but Mr Bush endorsed the ABC approach as the key to tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In the interests of getting the bill passed, Mr Hyde kept the more contentious issue of abortion out of the text despite attempts to insert a clause banning money for health and family planning groups who advocate abortion in any way.
Conservatives are also opposed to a provision inserted by Mr Hyde to give $1 billion next year to the Swiss-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, five time more than the White House initially proposed.
Mr Bush said the initiative would prevent seven million new HIV infections and treat at least 2 million people in the next decade.
"There are only two possible responses to suffering on this scale - we can turn our eyes away in resignation and despair, or we can take decisive, historic action to turn the tide against this disease and give the hope of life to millions," Mr Bush said.
"The United States of America chooses the path of action and the path of hope."