Keeping Promises

Will the world do the right thing by Africa?

When President Bush announced during this year's State of the Union speech two major initiatives to fight AIDS and poverty in poor countries in and outside Africa, the promise of such bold proposals from the world's wealthiest nation surely meant a respite for thousands who live and toil in this grimmest of realities. But as with many pronouncements, positive though these are, the proof lies in whether the cash hits the streets, and that, in turn, depends an awful lot on political will.

In May Bush signed into law an act—officially titled the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003—that authorized $15 billion to fight AIDS over five years, $3 billion per year. Three months earlier, he had requested $1.3 billion for what's called the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which is designed to give more money to countries that can demonstrate they've fought poverty and corruption effectively, at least by Bush administration standards.

But the opportunity "to do so much for so many," in President Bush's words, is shrinking. Congress only allocated $2 billion for the HIV/AIDS bill, $1 billion less than was authorized, and considerably less—$800 million by the House and $300 million by the Senate—for the MCA. Why?

The Bush administration says the limited infrastructure in many poor countries would make it impossible for the money to be spent effectively. Many disagree. DATA, a group that works to reduce poverty in Africa by raising awareness of the debt, AIDS, and trade crises there, argues that the world's poorer countries could effectively use $8.2 billion for AIDS costs in 2004 and that Africa alone could spend more than $3.1 billion—using programs and facilities that already exist.

PRESIDENT BUSH and Congress also say that $2 billion is enough to fight a disease that kills more than 6,000 Africans every day. But that other $1 billion could prevent 1.6 million more people from contracting the HIV virus, which could save the United States more than $1 billion on medicines those people would have required, says DATA.

"You have to build the infrastructure if you want to take this seriously, and you've got to spend early on to do that," said U2's Bono, who joined religious leaders at a press conference in Washington, D.C., in September to demand that President Bush keep his promise on these proposals. "The wise money is to spend now."

The ultimate decision on how much money is allocated for AIDS and poverty-related programs will be made this fall by Congress and President Bush when the final appropriations bill is enacted. In the meantime, advocacy groups such as DATA and Bread for the World are urging constituents to get informed and contact their senators and representatives. "In the end, these are politicians who really depend on what Americans say is important to us," said Bread for the World president David Beckmann. "So if people back home say to their members of Congress, ‘Doing the right thing by Africa is important to me. What's going on?' that'll move this in a flash."

—Molly Marsh

Molly Marsh is an assistant editor of Sojourners.