Bush Plans to Include $200 Million for Global AIDS Fund in Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Proposal

The Bush administration announced yesterday that its budget proposal for fiscal year 2003, which begins Oct. 1, includes a $200 million contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports. Half of the pledge amount will come from HHS, and half will come from the U.S. Agency for International Development (AP/Los Angeles Times, 1/28). The United States gave $200 million to the fund -- which currently totals $1.6 billion -- in the current budget year as well. "While I'm heartened by [Bush's] participation in this effort, a much larger sum is what I would like to see," Jim Mitulski, co-chair of San Francisco's Mayors HIV Health Services Council, said, adding that he and others are "counting on the president to act as a statesman and counter the image that the Republican Party doesn't care about social outcasts" (AP/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 1/27). Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive director of the coalition group Global AIDS Alliance, said on NPR's "Morning Edition" today that he and his coalition found Bush's pledge to the fund "outrageous," adding that "global experts estimate that the cost to stop AIDS is about $10 billion per year, and the U.S. investment of $200 million into the global fund is really deeply disappointing" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 1/28). The announcement of the pledge coincides with the fund's first board meeting, which is today and tomorrow in Geneva, where the 18-member group will accept new donations and finalize the fund management framework (AP/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 1/27).