PEPFAR Funding ‘Stingy;’ Bush Should Coordinate AIDS Efforts With Global Fund, Editorial Says

President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech, in which he announced the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and his recent speech about AIDS in Philadelphia "were stirring," but "checks" to support his plans "have been stingy," a Newark Star-Ledger editorial says. Although Bush has promised $15 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS internationally, only $350 million has been disbursed so far, the editorial says. This "failure to deliver" has led AIDS advocates to protest the administration's policies, the editorial says. Bush can silence the protestors by doing "what they ask," which "has the added benefit of being the best way to fight global AIDS," the Star-Ledger says. In addition, although the Bush administration has "picked good targets" for its fight against AIDS, it should agree to cooperate with already established programs like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to "maximize the effectiveness of U.S. dollars," the editorial concludes (Newark Star-Ledger, 6/30).