Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, AIDS experts announced that the promises made for additional funds like President Bush’s $15 billion AIDS initiative are inadequate. According to the Associated Press, after experts praised Bush’s new priority of the HIV/AIDS crisis they declared that the money promised by Bush for 14 countries is only a fraction of what is needed and programs with conflicting policies could limit its impact.
While Bush stated that he would commit three billion dollars a year over five years, the President only committed two billion dollars to various AIDS programs – $1 billion less than what he initially promised and far less than what is needed to fight HIV/AIDS.
In addition, AIDS activists have expressed their outrage at two Senate votes last week that failed to obtain funding for AIDS initiatives. The Senate voted to reject an amendment proposed by Senator Richard Durbin that would have provided an additional $1 billion for the emergency HIV/AIDS fund. The Senate also rejected another proposal to provide an additional $300 million for the fight against HIV/AIDS, reports Inter Press Service.
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