Global Health Advocates Call for Pan-African Voices t...( Letter from an African Man Living wit...),Health

Letter from an African Man Living with HIV/AIDS Presented to the White House

"It is not morally right for the President to cut down on the U.S. global health contribution, especially on AIDS. Cutting the budget for global AIDS funding is tantamount to genocide, and Mr. Obama shall be held accountable for deaths that will ensue." -- Felix Mwanza, Open Letter to President Obama, May 18, 2009

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a press conference held today in Nairobi, global health advocates, including Global AIDS Alliance (GAA) executive director Dr. Paul Zeitz, called for a pan-African response to fix the funding gap in President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2010 budget request submitted to the U.S. Congress on 7 May 2009.

When President Barack Obama released his US$3.6 trillion budget on May 7, he broke two campaign promises and created a total shortfall of US$3.3 billion in U.S. support for global AIDS funding through U.S. bilateral AIDS programs, including PEPFAR, and for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "President Obama also sent a message to world governments that it is acceptable to underfund global health, in particular the Global Fund," said Dr. Zeitz. "The Global Fund is already facing a financial gap, and this will only make it worse by setting the wrong example."

"The people of Africa must speak out and tell President Obama, a son of Kenya, that he must meet his promises to those who are affected by HIV/AIDS," said James Kamau, of the Kenya Treatment Action Movement, Nairobi.

Also speaking was Felix Mwanza of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (Zambia). "It is not morally right for the President to cut down on the U.S. global health contribution, especially on AIDS. Cutting the budget for global AIDS funding is tantamount to genocide, and Mr. Obama shall be held accountable for deaths that wi
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