President Bush Signs Global AIDS Bill Into Law

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 01 Aug 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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President Bush on Wednesday signed a bill (HR 5501) into law that reauthorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at $48 billion through 2013, the Washington Post reports. "We are a compassionate nation," Bush said at a signing ceremony, adding, "and that's what this bill says loud and clear" (Eggen, Washington Post, 7/31).

According to the AP/Google.com, the legislation was a "rare case of relatively easy cooperation" between the White House and Democratic-controlled Congress (Euphrat, AP/Google.com, 7/30). Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who sponsored the bill, said the bipartisan support for the measure is a "tribute to what we can achieve in foreign policy when the cause is right and all parties work together in goodwill" (Washington Post, 7/31). The U.S. funds will be directed to curb HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa, Vietnam, Haiti and Guyana.

The new law modifies a requirement that one-third of PEPFAR funds for HIV prevention be spent on abstinence-only education and instead requires a report to Congress if less than half of HIV prevention funds in a particular country are spent on abstinence and fidelity programs. The measure also includes a "conscience" provision, supported by conservatives, that gives assurances to religious groups that they will not be forced to participate in programs to which they morally object. The law also increases attention to women and girls and stresses the prevention of sexual violence. The program aims to reach 80% of HIV-positive pregnant women with services to prevent transmitting the virus to their infants.

The measure also removes a policy, in place since 1987, that bars HIV-positive foreigners from entering the U.S. (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/25). According to the Los Angeles Times, the repeal of the ban does not remove all U.S. travel barriers for HIV-positive people. Some advocates will now focus on calling on HHS to remove HIV from its list of diseases that preclude entry into the U.S. -- a list that is separate from the congressional ban lifted by the PEPFAR legislation (Patel, Los Angeles Times, 7/31).

Eric Friedman, senior global health policy adviser for Physicians for Human Rights, praised the bill for lifting the congressional ban on entry of HIV-positive foreigners but criticized the measure for not linking HIV/AIDS services with family planning, AFP/Google.com reports. "That allows HIV to go unprevented and undetected for years, until a whole family is infected," Friedman said (AFP/Google.com, 7/30).

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