At 9 p.m. EST tonight, President Bush will address the nation with his final State of the Union speech. We’ve caught word that Tatu Msangi, a 35-year-old, HIV-positive Tanzanian woman, and her 2-year-old daughter, Faith, will be among the president’s guests.

From this morning’s White House Press Release:

“Tatu Msangi is a 35-year-old single mother from Tanzania. When Tatu became pregnant, she went to the antenatal clinic at KCMC and discovered she was HIV-positive. Tatu enrolled in a Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program and delivered a healthy daughter, named Faith. As part of her treatment, Faith received a dose of nevirapine after she was born. She is now over two years old, and she is HIV-free.

As part of her work at KCMC, Tatu counsels HIV-positive women and encourages them to participate in the PMTCT program. KCMC is supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) through the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Tatu and her daughter Faith are examples of the hope and compassion that is transforming lives with support from PEPFAR. PEPFAR, which was announced by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Address, is the largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease.”

As we watch tonight, we hope to hear more on PEPFAR, as well as on The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and The Millennium Challenge Corporation.

-Virginia Simmons

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am and is filed under SOTU. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.