22 U.S.C. § 6802 — Findings and purposes

Page 1858 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 6801 Sec. PART C—UNITED STATES FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION 6841. Authorization of appropriations. 6842. Certification requirement. § 6801. Definitions In this chapter: (1) AIDS The term ‘‘AIDS’’ means the acquired im- mune deficiency syndrome. (2) Association The term ‘‘Association’’ means the Inter- national Development Association. (3) Bank The term ‘‘Bank’’ or ‘‘World Bank’’ means the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (4) HIV The term ‘‘HIV’’ means the human immuno- deficiency virus, the pathogen which causes AIDS. (5) HIV/AIDS The term ‘‘HIV/AIDS’’ means, with respect to an individual, an individual who is infected with HIV or living with AIDS. (Pub. L. 106–264, title I, § 102, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 749.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this title’’, meaning title I of Pub. L. 106–264, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 748, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of title I to the Code, see Short Title note set out below and Tables. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 106–264, § 1, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 748, pro- vided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter, amending sections 2151b, 2222, 2293, 2367 and 2395 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and sections 2151 and 2151b of this title] may be cited as the ‘Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000’.’’ Pub. L. 106–264, title I, § 101, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 749, provided that: ‘‘This title [enacting this chapter and amending sections 2151b, 2222 and 2293 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Global AIDS Research and Relief Act of 2000’.’’ § 6802. Findings and purposes (a) Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to the Surgeon General of the United States, the epidemic of human im- munodeficiency virus/acquired immune defi- ciency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) will soon become the worst epidemic of infectious disease in re- corded history, eclipsing both the bubonic plague of the 1300’s and the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919 which killed more than 20,000,000 people worldwide. (2) According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), more than 34,300,000 people in the world today are living with HIV/AIDS, of which approximately 95 percent live in the developing world. (3) UNAIDS data shows that among children age 14 and under worldwide, more than 3,800,000 have died from AIDS, more than 1,300,000 are living with the disease; and in 1 year alone—1999—an estimated 620,000 became infected, of which over 90 percent were babies born to HIV-positive women. (4) Although sub-Saharan Africa has only 10 percent of the world’s population, it is home to more than 24,500,000—roughly 70 percent—of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases. (5) Worldwide, there have already been an es- timated 18,800,000 deaths because of HIV/AIDS, of which more than 80 percent occurred in sub- Saharan Africa. (6) The gap between rich and poor countries in terms of transmission of HIV from mother to child has been increasing. Moreover, AIDS threatens to reverse years of steady progress of child survival in developing countries. UNAIDS believes that by the year 2010, AIDS may have increased mortality of children under 5 years of age by more than 100 percent in regions most affected by the virus. (7) According to UNAIDS, by the end of 1999, 13,200,000 children have lost at least one parent to AIDS, including 12,100,000 children in sub- Saharan Africa, and are thus considered AIDS orphans. (8) At current infection and growth rates for HIV/AIDS, the National Intelligence Council estimates that the number of AIDS orphans worldwide will increase dramatically, poten- tially increasing threefold or more in the next 10 years, contributing to economic decay, so- cial fragmentation, and political destabiliza- tion in already volatile and strained societies. Children without care or hope are often drawn into prostitution, crime, substance abuse, or child soldiery. (9) Donors must focus on adequate prepara- tions for the explosion in the number of or- phans and the burden they will place on fami- lies, communities, economies, and govern- ments. Support structures and incentives for families, communities, and institutions which will provide care for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, or for the children who are them- selves afflicted by HIV/AIDS, will be essential. (10) The 1999 annual report by the United Na- tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states ‘‘[t]he number of orphans, particularly in Africa, constitutes nothing less than an emergency, requiring an emergency response’’ and that ‘‘finding the resources needed to help stabilize the crisis and protect children is a priority that requires urgent action from the inter- national community.’’. (11) The discovery of a relatively simple and inexpensive means of interrupting the trans- mission of HIV from an infected mother to the unborn child—namely with nevirapine (NVP), which costs US$4 a tablet—has created a great opportunity for an unprecedented partnership between the United States Government and the governments of Asian, African and Latin American countries to reduce mother-to-child transmission (also known as ‘‘vertical trans- mission’’) of HIV. Page 1859 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 6812 (12) According to UNAIDS, if implemented this strategy will decrease the proportion of orphans that are HIV-infected and decrease in- fant and child mortality rates in these devel- oping regions. (13) A mother-to-child antiretroviral drug strategy can be a force for social change, pro- viding the opportunity and impetus needed to address often long-standing problems of inad- equate services and the profound stigma asso- ciated with HIV-infection and the AIDS dis- ease. Strengthening the health infrastructure to improve mother-and-child health, antenatal, delivery and postnatal services, and couples counseling generates enormous spill- over effects toward combating the AIDS epi- demic in developing regions. (14) United States Census Bureau statistics show life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa falling to around 30 years of age within a dec- ade, the lowest in a century, and project life expectancy in 2010 to be 29 years of age in Bot- swana, 30 years of age in Swaziland, 33 years of age in Namibia and Zimbabwe, and 36 years of age in South Africa, Malawi, and Rwanda, in contrast to a life expectancy of 70 years of age in many of the countries without a high preva- lence of AIDS. (15) A January 2000 United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report on the global infectious disease threat concluded that the economic costs of infectious diseases—es- pecially HIV/AIDS—are already significant and could reduce GDP by as much as 20 per- cent or more by 2010 in some sub-Saharan Afri- can nations. (16) According to the same NIE report, HIV prevalence among militias in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are esti- mated at 40 to 60 percent, and at 15 to 30 per- cent in Tanzania. (17) The HIV/AIDS epidemic is of increasing concern in other regions of the world, with UNAIDS estimating that there are more than 5,600,000 cases in South and South-east Asia, that the rate of HIV infection in the Caribbean is second only to sub-Saharan Africa, and that HIV infections have doubled in just 2 years in the former Soviet Union. (18) Despite the discouraging statistics on the spread of HIV/AIDS, some developing na- tions—such as Uganda, Senegal, and Thai- land—have implemented prevention programs that have substantially curbed the rate of HIV infection. (19) AIDS, like all diseases, knows no na- tional boundaries, and there is no certitude that the scale of the problem in one continent can be contained within that region. (20) Accordingly, United States financial support for medical research, education, and disease containment as a global strategy has beneficial ramifications for millions of Ameri- cans and their families who are affected by this disease, and the entire population which is potentially susceptible. (b) Purposes The purposes of this chapter are to— (1) help prevent human suffering through the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV/ AIDS; and (2) help ensure the viability of economic de- velopment, stability, and national security in the developing world by advancing research to— (A) understand the causes associated with HIV/AIDS in developing countries; and (B) assist in the development of an AIDS vaccine. (Pub. L. 106–264, title I, § 103, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 749.) SUBCHAPTER I—UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE § 6811. Coordinated donor strategy for support and education of orphans in sub-Saharan Af- rica (a) Statement of policy It is in the national interest of the United States to assist in mitigating the burden that will be placed on sub-Saharan African social, economic, and political institutions as these in- stitutions struggle with the consequences of a dramatically increasing AIDS orphan popu- lation, many of whom are themselves infected by HIV and living with AIDS. Effectively ad- dressing that burden and its consequences in sub-Saharan Africa will require a coordinated multidonor strategy. (b) Development of strategy The President shall coordinate the develop- ment of a multidonor strategy to provide for the support and education of AIDS orphans and the families, communities, and institutions most af- fected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. (c) Definition In this section, the term ‘‘HIV/AIDS’’ means, with respect to an individual, an individual who is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the pathogen that causes the ac- quired immune deficiency virus (AIDS), or liv- ing with AIDS. (Pub. L. 106–264, title I, § 113, Aug. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 753.) § 6812. African crisis response initiative and HIV/ AIDS training (a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) the spread of HIV/AIDS constitutes a threat to security in Africa; (2) civil unrest and war may contribute to the spread of the disease to different parts of the continent; (3) the percentage of soldiers in African mili- taries who are infected with HIV/AIDS is un- known, but estimates range in some countries as high as 40 percent; and (4) it is in the interests of the United States to assist the countries of Africa in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. (b) Education on the prevention of the spread of AIDS In undertaking education and training pro- grams for military establishments in African countries, the United States shall ensure that