Representative Calls on Next Administration to View HIV/AIDS as a ‘National Security Crisis’
"Some argue that we cannot afford to get involved in all the world's problems. The truth is, as with so many of the great conflicts in recent history, we cannot afford to stand back and watch," Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) writes in an op-ed in yesterday's Ventura County Star. Lee, a member of the House committees on international relations and banking and financial services, is a coauthor of the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton this year. Noting that HIV/AIDS was ignored by both presidential candidates in this year's foreign policy debate, she calls on the next administration to continue the Clinton administration's work on global AIDS relief efforts. In addition to the passage of the act, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke earlier this year convened a "historic" Security Council meeting to address the global security aspects of the pandemic. UNAIDS estimates that $3 billion is needed annually
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