Frist: Bush Saved 10 Million Lives
In an editorial at CNN.com today, Senator Bill Frist provides some analysis and commentary on President Bush’s work in the fight against HIV/AIDS during his 8 years in office. He also writes about the trip he took to Rwanda this summer with ONE and how that impacted his own personal support of global AIDS relief efforts.
Excerpts below, full piece here
I was in the first row in the House chamber when three quarters through his State of the Union address, the president boldly said: “I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years … to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean” and “lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of nature.”
And lead the world we did. No president in history had made such a commitment against a single disease. Those words and the action that followed meant that instead of another 30 million people dying from HIV infections, maybe just another 20 million will.
…Six months ago, Tom Daschle, Mike Huckabee, John Podesta, Cindy McCain and I (yes, we five of different persuasions do work together!) went to Rwanda on a fact-finding trip.
Our visits with villagers all over the country opened our eyes to how Bush’s five-year, $1.2 billion effort to combat malaria has provided 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 7 million life-saving drug therapies to vulnerable people. Yes, George Bush the healer.
Future historians will also note what today’s pundits ignore: total US government development aid to Africa quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008. What’s more, the Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years. You have to go back to the Truman years to match that.
And the president revolutionized the way we give aid with the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, now active in 35 countries. This $6.7 billion public-private partnership for the first time ties aid to accountability based on a country’s governing well, fighting corruption and commitment to economic freedoms.
-Chris Scott
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January 16, 2009 at 12:20 pm
ONE thing that I love and respect about people is their devotion to help the world’s poor even when they are not always in the national spotlight.
Sen. Frist has been in the forefront of changing lives for the better in the developing world for years and has done so consistently, whether the media is paying attention to him or not.
Thank you, Mr. Frist, for being with our movement to end AIDS & extreme poverty from the beginning. We look forward to working with you until our common goals are achieved.
ALWAYS ONE in the Spirit, debbie
http://www.mpwn-uganda.org
January 16, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Debbie K, thank you for recognizing the good work that Dr. Frist has done over the years. He believes in One and what it is trying to accomplish and so do I.
January 19, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I appreciate Bono speaking out on behalf of the worlds poor and sick. Don’t forget that the number one question asked Obama was “Will you legalize marijuana?”. Think about the benefits that medical cannabis can have on the millions of suffering Africans. I am very disturbed when I hear that UN Police are using international aid money to persecute cannabis growers in Africa and destroy such an important beneficial crop. Bono has enormous influence on UN leaders, and some of the world’s most powerful people. Please don’t think for a moment that by removing cannabis the UN is in any way helping the poor people of Africa or any other continent. This is a grave injustice, and I’m sure the sick and dying Africans effected by such laws would agree. The cannabis plant can help to provide food, clothing, shelter, safe medicine, and eco-friendly fuel. If the One Campaign really wants to help the poor, we should let them grow hemp, and if we must get involved, help them succeed in taking advantage of the many benefits of the hemp industry.
I hope Bono keeps up the good work, and helps to stop the bad work.
Thanx. www.nycamp.org
January 21, 2009 at 7:53 am
This is an example of a well-prepared strategy to assist in the aids-fighting efforts by the U.S. It is using the American people’s contribution in a sensible and financially sound way. Let us not forget that America’s children and adults are also in need of food and health care, as well as we also are undernourished when it comes to basic survival needs: sewing and knitting.
For all the money spent on structures and amenities in our public schools, not one girl or boy is taught the basics of home economics (hemming, knitting, purliing, or money management and budgeting and saving skills). I think the Knit One Save One programs is wonderful, but the sharing of these skills to our own teenagers and grandmothers is what really counts–labor is the answer to the world’s needs, in my view; and it begins at home.