Bush to Seek Extension of AIDS Effort

05/30/2007

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 30, 2007


President Bush will call on Congress today to provide $30 billion toward battling the global AIDS crisis over the first five years after he leaves office, according to senior administration officials, a doubling of the current U.S. commitment.

The increase in the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) would provide lifesaving treatment to 2.5 million people, administration officials said last night -- about 1.4 million more than the program now serves.

The program's original five-year mandate, which provided for $15 billion in U.S. funding, will expire in September 2008. Bush's plan would extend that five more years.

Bush will issue his request this afternoon, the officials said, during a Rose Garden ceremony in which he is scheduled to be joined by supporters and beneficiaries of the program, including a caregiver and an AIDS patient. The president will also announce that first lady Laura Bush will travel to Africa in late June and visit AIDS-related services funded by the program in Zambia, Mali, Mozambique and Senegal, officials said.

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