Remarks on the Release of the Second Annual Report to Congress on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

(1:30 p.m.)

SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. I have recently spoken about how the men and women of American diplomacy are carrying out the bold mission that President Bush has given us. We are pursuing a strategy of transformational diplomacy which is rooted in partnership, not paternalism, in doing thing with people, not just for them. We are using America's diplomatic power and our development assistance to help foreign citizens to better their own lives, to build their own nations and to transform their own futures.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a key example of effective foreign assistance and transformational diplomacy in action. Our approach is to empower every nation to take ownership of its own fight against HIV/AIDS through prevention, treatment and care. The Emergency Plan is the largest international initiative ever by one nation to combat a single disease. It complements our multilateral efforts to fight AIDS through the Global Fund, of which America is the largest supporter.

With the release of today's report, we recognize the Emergency Plan's unprecedented contribution over the past two years to help combat one of the worst pandemics in human history. Prevention is the first line of defense, and through the Emergency Plan the United States is promoting several methods that get results. The hallmark of our preventive effort is the ABC approach: Abstain; Be Faithful; and Correct, Consistent Use of Condoms.

In 2005, the Emergency Plan supported ABC programs that reached over 42 million people. Another focus for prevention is helping pregnant women protect their babies from HIV. To date, our partnerships have reached over 3 million pregnant women and prevented an estimated 47,000 infections.

The Emergency Plan is also helping people who are already infected to live with the disease. Two years ago, only 50,000 people in all of Sub-Saharan Africa had access to antiretroviral treatment. By the end of last year, the Emergency Plan had expanded treatment in that region to 400,000 people plus an additional 71,000 individuals worldwide. It is especially worth noting that 60 percent of these new people being treated are women.

As this life-extending treatment is becoming more widely available, the decision to get tested for HIV is changing lives. The Emergency Plan is helping our foreign partners to spread the word and thus far U.S.-supported programs have offered counseling and testing to over 9.4 million people. That is the beginning of a transformation from despair to hope.

The final pillar of our strategy is to provide care for those children that the disease leaves behind. The Emergency Plan is helping to build partnerships with foreign families, communities and nations, and during 2005 these partnerships extended compassion and care to over 1.2 million orphans and vulnerable children, helping them to go to school, to get the food they need; in short, to be children.

This is some of what we are doing today and we are adding to the effect of our present efforts by building a foundation for the future. Over the coming years we will need more local partners who have the skills to help their communities combat HIV/AIDS. The Emergency Plan is helping to prepare these local partners -- over half a million in 2005 alone. And the effects of this training will ripple out for decades.

On this day, as we mark the Emergency Plan's contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS, we must remind ourselves of the decades of hard work that still lie ahead. The men and women of the State Department are on the front lines of this struggle. We and others in the United States Government will need to draw on the dedication that these people bring for a long, long time to come. We will not defeat this disease in a month or in a year; but if we sustain our commitment, if we match our compassion with action, we will one day bring hope to all who are living in the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

And now I'd like to introduce Randy Tobias, who will have a few words.
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