PEPFAR 'Most Impressive' Of Bush's Efforts In Africa, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 12:00 PDT

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President Bush "did better than most people are willing to admit in his dealings with Africa, a continent long victimized by the geopolitical tug of war between America and its adversaries," columnist DeWayne Wickham writes in a USA Today opinion piece. "Most impressive of these efforts" has been the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Wickham writes, adding that Bush earlier this year signed a bill to reauthorize PEPFAR at $48 billion over five years. In addition, Wickham writes that the Bush administration since 2003 has provided funding to increase the number of HIV-positive people in Africa with antiretroviral drug access from 50,000 to about 1.4 million, according to Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs. He concludes that what should not "go unnoticed by historians is what Bush did to combat the scourge of AIDS in Africa" (Wickham, USA Today, 11/18).

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