President Bush just finished addressing the UN Assembly in New York. During his remarks he pushed for stronger economic and HIV/AIDS fighting initiatives in Africa. He noted that “every country and institution that provides foreign assistance including the United Nations will be more effective by showing faith in the people of the developing world and insisting on performance in return for aid ”while asking countries to “adopt a model of partnership not paternalism.”

He also spoke at length about PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief):

Every nation that receives American support through this initiative develops its own plan for fighting HIV aids and measures the results. And so far these results are inspiring. 5 years ago 50,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today that number is nearly 1.7 million. We’re taking a similar approach to fighting malaria, and so far we’ve supported local efforts to protect more than 25 million Africans. …All [nations] who have made pledges to fight disease have an obligation to follow through on their commitments.

The full clip can be found here.

-Chris Scott