Letter in Support of Durbin/Specter Global AIDS amendment
May 23, 2002
Dear Senator:
Three million people died from HIV/AIDS last year. 95% of persons living with HIV/AIDS, most in the developing world, do not have access to anti-retroviral treatment. Business as usual will not halt this disease. The AIDS pandemic requires an immediate scaling up of financial resources -- through the emergency supplemental -- so that proven programs can be implemented and expanded.
Appropriations Committee markup of the emergency supplemental bill is initially scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 22nd. Senators Durbin and Specter will offer an amendment that will have immediate bearing on the lives of 12,000 people a day who die from a treatable diseases in poor countries.
The undersigned organizations implore you to co-sponsor this amendment. It will provide $200 million to bilateral AIDS programs, and a $500 million contribution to The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
We ask that you contact Senator Durbin's office as soon as possible to cosponsor this amendment before Senate Appropriators begin starts mark-up in committee.
The modest sums included in the Specter Durbin amendment will enable the United States to mount a far more credible response to a Global AIDS disaster that is destabilizing continents.
In a press statement, Senator Dick Durbin reported that "we ignore this crisis at our peril, for AIDS is a disease that knows no boundaries. A worldwide epidemic requires a serious worldwide response," Durbin said. "We cannot move at a snail's pace as this plague gallops away from us."
This Fall, when the Global Fund awards its second round of grants, this innovative and fast moving mechanism will be completely bankrupted by hundreds of technically rigorous, transparent and accountable applications submitted by national planning partnerships. With grants from the Global Fund, these government/private sector/NGO groupings are able to make major impacts on halting the decimation caused by HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
Your co-sponsorship and vote in support of the amendment will have a tremendous impact on whether the Global Fund will be able to enter this second round with cash to distribute, or only apologies.
Five million new HIV infections worldwide were reported last year. As stated in a release from Senator Specter and Durbin¼s offices, "The emergency is real. Now is the time to stop talking and start funding."
Senators wishing to sign on as a cosponsor of this amendment should contact
Kelly O'Brien in Senator Durbin's Office (202.224.2152).
Organizational signers in support of the Specter-Durbin amendment:
National and international organizations (headquartered in United States
unless otherwise noted)
50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice
Africa Action
AfriCare
Agua Buena Human Rights Association, Costa Rica
AIDSETI (AIDS Empowerment & Treatment International
Ark Foundation
Artists for a New South Africa
Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), Singapore
Association marocaine de Lutte Contre le SIDA- ALCS, Morocco
ASSOCIATION REVS+, Burkina faso
AVE de MÈxico, MÈxico
Body Positive North West, UK
Bridges of Hope International, LLC
Church World Service
Consumer Project on Technology
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Germany
General Board Of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
Global AIDS Alliance
Global Campaign for Microbicides
Global Health Council
Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Health GAP Coalition
HIV Support Centre, Northern Ireland
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Interfaith Paths to Peace
International AIDS Empowerment
International Lesbian Gay Association
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
International Resource and Information Exchange
Jubilee USA Network
Lutheran World Relief
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
MÈdecins Sans FrontiËres, Thailand, France
Mobilization Against AIDS International
NADIR Onlus, HIV Treatment Group, ITALY
The National AIDS Centre, POLAND
Orphans and Vulnerable Children's Task Force
Oxfam America
Physicians for Human Rights
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Project Inform
SATELLIFE, Watertown, MA
Search For A Cure
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, PA
Society for the Advancement of Women, Malawi
Society of African Missions, Office of Justice and Peace
Student Global AIDS Campaign
Title II Community AIDS National Network
Treatment Action Group
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
VIVO POSITIVO, Chile
Washington Office on Africa
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, United States Section
Local/State/Regional groups
ACT UP East Bay, CA
ACT UP New York
ACT UP Philadelphia, PA
Action Alliance of Senior Citizens of Greater Philadelphia, PA
African Services Committee
AIDS Action Baltimore, MD
AIDS Foundation of Chicago, IL
AIDS Project East Bay
Oakland, California
AIDS Treatment News, Philadelphia PA
Boston Global Action Network, Africa AIDS Project, Boston, MA
Connecticut College Coalition for Peaceful Justice
Connecticut Positive Action Coalition, Hartford, CT
Elders for Survival, CA
Middle East Children¼s Alliance, CA
MIT United Trauma Relief, Cambridge, MA
Muslim Student Association, Connecticut College
NAAG (Neighborhood HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group), Washington,DC 20011
Northwest Coalition for AIDS Treatment in Africa, Seattle, WA
Pearl S Buck International, Perkasie, PA
Philadelphia FIGHT
Public Relations Comittee, Connecticut College
RESULTS, Oakland, CA
SF Bay Area Jubilee Debt Cancellation Coalition, Berkeley, CA
Student Global AIDS Campaign of Cambridge, Dartmouth, Cambridge, & Maryland
chapters
Voltarine deCleyre Collective, Philadelphia, PA