1.20.2009

Something to remember him by

Wow, super harsh moment this morning when the crowd booed W. as he was introduced. The icing on the cake was Obama diplomatically condemning the last administration's actions and policies. However, it turns out that Bush did something right: His work in combating AID/HIV in Africa is being praised.
"In Uganda, a country already far along on its own AIDS initiative when Mr. Bush began his, 110,000 people are under treatment, and 2 million have H.I.V. tests each year, up from 10,000 treated and 400,000 tested before, according to Dr. Alex Coutinho, a top AIDS expert there. The money comes mostly from Pepfar, but also from a United Nations fund to which the United States contributes.

Dr. Coutinho said Ugandans were terrified that when Mr. Bush left office, “the Bush fund,” as they call it, would go with him. “When I’ve traveled in the U.S., I’m amazed at how little people know about what Pepfar stands for,” he said. “Just because it has been done under Bush, it is not something the country should not be proud of.”"
--SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, New York Times

* For a more in-depth account, read "AIDS and the President--An Insider's Account"

2 comments:

Aaron said...

From my experience observing American aid in action here in Zambia it's a pretty mixed bag. Providing free ARVs is amazing but giving billions of dollars to faith-based, anti-condom, anti-abortion organizations for sex education creates far more problems for "Africa" than it prevents IMHO.

Aaron said...

update. as of yesterday Obama just rescinded the rule that American funding can't go to organizations that promote family planning