Microbicide Development Act: An Opportunity to Save Millions of Lives

Floor Speech

* Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join today with my colleagues Representative CHRIS SHAYS and DANNY K. DAVIS in introducing the Microbicide Development Act, along with twenty seven of our colleagues. This bipartisan legislation recognizes the need to coordinate and accelerate federal microbicide research and development programs in order to provide a new and effective tool in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic here and around the world. At the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok last year, microbicide development was listed at one of the ``10 most promising biotechnologies for improving global health.'' It is time that we turn that promise into reality.

* Microbicide products that can be applied topically--like gels or foams--are being developed today to help prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases in women. Microbicides would block infection by creating a barrier between the pathogen and its target cells. A computer modeling study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that if an effective microbicide were used by 20 percent of women in just 73 low-income countries, it would prevent 2.5 million HIV infections over three years.

* The Microbicide Development Act would help us realize the life-saving potential of microbicides. It would require development and implementation of a federal strategic plan to coordinate ongoing activities among the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United States Agency of International Development (USAID). Through this increased emphasis and annual reports to Congress, we can ensure that the United States moves forward effectively and quickly as part of the global effort to stop AIDS.

* The need to act to cut HIV infections and AIDS deaths is overwhelming and immediate. Most of us are aware of the stark figures. In the last 25 years, 40 million people around the world have been infected with the disease. Nearly 3 million lives are lost each year. In Africa alone, it is projected that 80 million people will die by 2025 unless we act decisively to stop the spread of AIDS.

* Not as many are aware of the changing face of HIV/AIDS--the growth of infection rates among women. Over 14,000 people are infected with HIV each and every day--about 7,000 of them are women. Many of these women live in monogamous relationships but, because they are unable or too afraid to ask their husbands or partners to use condoms, they have no prevention tools at their disposal.

* In fact, as Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, director of the non-profit International Partnership for Microbicides, points out, ``For women, in many parts of the world, being poor, young and married are the most significant risk factors for acquiring HIV infection.'' Microbicides--products like gels or foams that can be applied topically--would provide an effective prevention tool that women can use to protect themselves, without having to rely on their partners.

GPO's PDF

* Microbicides hold particular promise in Africa, where, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in 2003, women must be placed at the center of the HIV/AIDS strategy. ``If you want to save Africa, you must save the African woman first,'' he said. ``It is they who nurture the social networks that help societies share burdens.'' Yet, as Lesotho's Minister of Health and Social Welfare Deborah K. Raditapole describes, many African women have little ability to protect themselves or their children: Having sex with her husband is considered a wife's duty, even when she knows that her husband has had other partners and wishes to protect herself. If she insists that he uses a condom or refuses to have sex with him, she may be beaten or abandoned. Even if a woman suspects that her spouse may have been exposed to HIV, she has nowhere to turn for support, and there are no laws to protect her.

* That is why Ilene Wong, a Stanford Hospital physician, calls microbicide development a ``lifesaving safety net.'' In The Washington Post last summer, she wrote: In my nightmares, I see the women we have failed to protect from AIDS. ..... I despair for my sisters in Africa, who know that abstinence is rarely an option for the powerless and poor. Rather, it's a luxury for those confident that they will eat tomorrow. A truly comprehensive and farsighted global AIDS program would recognize that women need their own weapons against HIV. They need microbicides.

* In the Gleneagles statement issued last July, the G8 recognized the need for a greater commitment to global health and joined the chorus of respected health organizations calling for expedited microbicide development. Other organizations that have recognized the potential of microbicides include the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the National Institutes of Health, the National Women's Health Network and the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

* Microbicide development is not just a life-and-death matter for women in other countries, it is equally crucial for women in the United States. In Illinois, over 30,000 AIDS cases have been reported and we have suffered 16,400 deaths since 1981. As in other parts of the world, women and especially women of color represent a growing proportion of new infections in Illinois. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago has been a leader in calling for expanded microbicide R&D as part of their comprehensive efforts to address the AIDS epidemic. David Munar, Jim Pickett and others at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago have been instrumental in helping to design this bill and in bringing attention to the need to put prevention tools against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases directly into women's and men's hands.

* I also want to thank the many women who, infected themselves, have come forward to push for microbicide development in order to protect other women. Women like Chicagoan Debra Fleming, an African American woman who has lived with HIV for 20 years and says, ``I know plenty of women who really don't have a choice when it comes to using protection with their partners. Condoms are just an option for them because a lot of these women are battered. With a microbicide, a woman can protect herself from both HIV and a black eye.''

* And I want to thank my constituent, Patrice Dean, who has been HIV+ for 15 years, who is also part of the fight for prevention. ``If microbicides would have been available to me, I may never have become infected,'' she says. ``They are important for all women, especially women of childbearing age who want to have a child but not risk infection. They are also important for married couples, where it may be difficult for a woman to negotiate condoms. Men don't like condoms, never have, never will. That is always an issue.''

* Women will soon comprise over half of the world's HIV/AIDS-infected people. They need HIV-prevention tools that they can use themselves, without having to rely on reluctant and sometimes even abusive partners. The Microbicide Development Act will spur development of those tools. I hope that my colleagues will join us in cosponsoring this bill and in pushing for its enactment.

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