U.S. Must Contribute More to Global AIDS Effort, Editorial Says

"[G]lobal AIDS is not an over-the-horizon problem that Americans can safely ignore," a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial says. "The U.S. National Intelligence Council has described infectious diseases such as AIDS as a risk to America's security since they threaten the economic health and political stability of countries where Americans live and where U.S. companies operate. That's why Congress and the administration should look AIDS in the eye and recognize the danger it poses," the editorial adds. In August, President Bush pledged $200 million toward the Global AIDS and Health Fund created by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, despite some hopes that the United States might contribute $1 billion toward the $7 billion to $10 billion needed for the fund. "It's true that $1 billion is a huge amount of money, but the U.S. already spends 20 times that amount every year preventing AIDS and treating the 800,000 Americans who are living with HIV," the editorial says. While treating AIDS "is not only costly, but also complex and uncertain," the "threat posed by AIDS ... is serious, and it requires a serious -- and generous -- response," the editorial concludes (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/1).