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U.S. International HIV/AIDS Activities
Fact sheet released by the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
November 30, 1999
The United States Government is the largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS development assistance, investing nearly $1 billion over the past 10 years in over 75 countries in the developing world. In July 1999, the Administration proposed a $100 million Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic (LIFE) Initiative to fight AIDS around the world. LIFE focuses on India and target countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the most severe epidemic and the highest number of new infections. Under the LIFE Initiative, $65 million was appropriated to the U.S. Agency for International Development and $35 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for FY-2000.
In March 1999, the U.S. Department of State launched a diplomatic initiative on international HIV/AIDS to raise the profile of global HIV/AIDS and foster political commitment overseas. The initiative instructs ambassadors and high-level U.S. officials at posts to encourage foreign leaders to increase attention and resources in combating HIV/AIDS. The State Department also works with international organizations, other governments, and the public and private sectors to draw greater attention and resources to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Secretary of State reinforced her commitment to the issue during her recent African trip to Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. At each stop, and in each meeting with heads of state, HIV/AIDS was on the Secretary's agenda. At an HIV/AIDS event in Nairobi, she remarked that HIV/AIDS is "not only a risk to public health but a disaster for economic progress, social justice and basic security...." The Secretary stressed the importance of greater political commitment from national governments at the highest levels to make HIV/AIDS a priority.
The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, provides approximately $15 million, 25 percent of the funding, for UNAIDS in its efforts to coordinate UN agency activities to prevent HIV/AIDS. This is in addition to the funding provided to the UN International Children's Emergency Fund, the World Health Organization, the UN Development Program, and other international organizations to address various aspects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. U.S. Government funding, approximately $125 million in 1998, accounted for nearly one-half of the global multilateral and bilateral overseas development funding for HIV/AIDS.
USAID funding has directly educated more than 15 million people about the risks of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STI), trained more than 150,000 people to educate others about HIV/AIDS prevention, and expanded and improved STI-prevention programs in countries around the world. Since 1989, USAID has distributed more than 5 billion condoms worldwide.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports more than 2,500 research projects at more than 500 research institutions across the nation and around the world. Total NIH FY 1999 international AIDS research funding was approximately $61.9 million. NIH is a leader in the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine, and with USAID and the Centers for Disease Control, leads development efforts of a safe, inexpensive, reliable and acceptable microbicide for the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The U.S. Military HIV Research Program's (USMHRP) primary initiatives are directed toward the prevention of HIV/AIDS in military populations, both U.S. and ally militaries. Approximately one-third of the USMHRP annual budget of $26 million is expended in support of overseas programs through DOD's network of overseas biomedical research and development laboratories. Successful prevention programs developed for the military will be shared with, and will have significant public health impact in, civilian populations.
Additional information on international efforts to combat HIV/AIDS is available at the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs home page at:
http://www.state.gov/www/global/oes/health/index.html
and at UNAIDS home page at:
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