Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthoization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of the critical bipartisan Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

We have a moral obligation to address the global pandemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It was 5 years ago that Congress took leadership to address this crisis. Today, because of Congress's actions, the United States has become the leading provider in the world of HIV/AIDS assistance, treatment, prevention and care.

AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. The United Nations estimates that 33 million people are infected with HIV worldwide, with an estimated 22 million HIV-infected people in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 1.6 million deaths in sub-Saharan African resulted from AIDS in 2007. This legislation reaffirms our commitment to combating this deadly epidemic by reauthorizing the 2003 law and will give more flexibility to host governments in planning, directing, and managing prevention, treatment and care programs that have been established with our assistance.

I am pleased that the bill also includes a provision that authorizes funding for U.S. contributions to research and development of a tuberculosis vaccine. Tuberculosis is a deadly epidemic that faces our planet today. Nearly 2 million people die from it each year and approximately 9 million are diagnosed with tuberculosis annually. It is the largest killer of people with HIV/AIDS, accounting for one-third of AIDS deaths alone. The current tuberculosis vaccine is more than 85 years old and is unreliable against pulmonary tuberculosis. New tuberculosis vaccines have the potential to save millions of lives and would lead to substantial cost savings.

Madam Chairman, let us honor the spirit of the two men--Chairmen Lantos and Hyde--who guided the 2003 law through this body in bipartisan manner by passing this much needed legislation to combat these deadly diseases.

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