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President Orders AIDS Drugs for Africa Made Accessible

Will Help Save Lives in a Continent Besieged by the Virus

Clinton's Decree Gives Hope to 23 Million Lacking Help

Compiled By GayToday

aidsinafrica.jpg - 8.65 K Washington, D.C.--President Clinton signed an executive order Wednesday May 10, that will give millions of Africans living with HIV and AIDS access to crucial, life-saving medication.

In doing so, say prominent activists, Clinton displayed true statesmanship by addressing a crisis that threatens millions of lives and the very stability of several African nations.

"Millions of people in Africa now have hope thanks to the commitment of the Clinton administration," said Human Rights Campaign Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.

"The AIDS epidemic will not end until a comprehensive global strategy is put in place, and we are encouraged by the steps the president has recently taken towards this goal."

The president's executive order came at the request of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., after the Senate passed the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act without an amendment, sponsored by her and Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., that would have made drugs more available to poor people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The amendment would have allowed developing countries to import or manufacture cheaper drugs. Currently, drug regimens to battle HIV infection can cost more than $10,000 a year, which easily exceeds the price most Africans are able to pay.

On April 30, the Clinton administration formally designated AIDS as a threat to U.S. national security, saying the disease could bring instability to many nations and cause severe setbacks for burgeoning free-market democracies.

That same day, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss dismissed the administration's stand on Fox News Sunday.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Clinton Designates AIDS a Threat to National Security

Republicans Deny that AIDS is a National Security Threat

AIDS is World War III

Related Sites:
AIDS Foundation of South Africa

Human Rights Campaign

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"I guess this is just the president trying to make an appeal to, you know, certain groups," said Lott. "I don't view that as a national security threat, not to our national security interests, no." "Those in Congress who believe isolationism is the answer to the AIDS crisis are playing a dangerous game that threatens our nation's current prosperity," said Stachelberg. "We should have learned long ago that AIDS knows no borders or boundaries and politicizing the issue costs precious lives."

The United Nations reports that 23.3 million people are infected with the HIV virus in Africa --70 percent of the total number of people infected worldwide. An estimated 3.8 million new infections will occur in sub-Saharan Africa this year. More than 34 million people in Africa have been infected with HIV since the inception of the epidemic. An estimated 13.7 million Africans have already lost their lives.