UNITED NATIONS – U.S. congressional leaders agreed to add more than $1.3 billion to a global campaign against AIDS on Tuesday, a day after Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged more American money to fight the killer disease.
As the nations pitched in with contributions to the fund during the first U.N. special session on AIDS, diplomats hammered out a tentative agreement on a document that will map the way the world deals with the epidemic for years to come.
The commitment by leaders of the House International Relations Committee was the first indication of the size of the American financial commitment toward the international effort.
A committee statement said the funds would come on top of $200 million pledged by President Bush to a fund organized by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The U.S. pledge earmarks $750 million for the global fund, $560 million in assistance to individual countries and $50 million for a pilot drug treatment program.
Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., and Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the panel’s ranking Democrat, reached agreement Tuesday morning, the committee said in its statement. The full panel is expected to approve the plan Wednesday. Both full houses must approve it before the measure is sent to Mr. Bush for enactment.
The $1.3 billion plan was expected to be signed by Mr. Bush, committee sources said.
Agreement on the document came as nations agreed on wording after weeks of infighting.
Tuesday evening, the president of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri, issued a statement saying “final agreement on the text had been reached by the member states.” The draft was formally submitted to the General Assembly for adoption Wednesday at the end of the conference.
Mr. Annan says $7 billion to $10 billion is needed annually to halt AIDS and reverse the effects of a disease that has killed 22 million people and afflicted 36 million more.
Norway and Sweden have said they would provide $110 million and $60 million respectively to the AIDS battle, though not necessarily to the fund. Britain pledged $200 million, and Canada offered $73 million.
Nigeria, facing a serious AIDS epidemic, pledged $10 million. And impoverished African countries Uganda and Zimbabwe vowed to add $2 million and $1 million. Kenya promised a token $7,000.
The three-day conference at U.N. headquarters has drawn 3,000 participants, including health experts, politicians, scientists, AIDS activists and patients working to find an end to the scourge. Topics covered in workshops and discussions include everything from drug prices to homosexuality, from AIDS orphans to funding.
Speakers at the conference underlined that while states bicker about their response to the global crisis, the disease continues to claim lives.
