HIV/AIDS Advocates, Bono, Actress Ashley Judd ‘Increase Pressure’ on Bush Administration to Increase Donation to International HIV/AIDS Efforts
Supporters of international and domestic HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts are "increasing pressure" on President Bush to augment the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, London's Financial Times reports. Advocates today plan to protest in Washington, D.C., to call attention to the "modes[t]" U.S. donation to the fund. Paul Davis of the AIDS advocacy group Health GAP said that Bush's AIDS initiative, which includes a proposal to spend $500 million over the next three years to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission in Africa and the Caribbean, is "inadequate." Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund, next week following World AIDS Day plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to ask President Bush to "signal his personal support" for the fight against HIV/AIDS by announcing an increased U.S. contribution to the fund. In addition, Irish rock star Bono, actress Ashley Judd and African HIV/AIDS advocates next week will travel across seven Midwestern and Southern states on a "heartland tour" to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, the Financial Times reports (Beattie, Financial Times, 11/25). Bono and Judd are scheduled to appear at an event in Nebraska on Sunday for World AIDS Day (AP/Yahoo! News, 11/23).
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