This morning in Kigali, Rwanda, I attended two events: first, a roundtable discussion on education with First Lady Laura Bush, First Lady Jeannette Kagame and a group of Rwandan schoolgirls and second, a press conference with President Bush and President Kagame.
 
The schoolgirls at the roundtable were very nervous, but they each stood up and told Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Kagame their stories. Their ages ranged from 16 to 18 and they all came from families who could not afford to pay for their schooling. Each girl was a beneficiary of the African Education Initiative – in other words, your tax dollars and mine put these girls in school. And that was an amazing thing to see.
 
Education for girls in poor countries means that they are much more likely to earn decent wages as adults and much less likely to become infected with HIV. Mrs. Bush asked them if they all knew how to prevent AIDS: they all said they did.
 
One other thing that surprised me: more than half of the girls were heading to universities to study physics or chemisty.
 
The press conference with President Bush and President Kagame focused on Rwanda’s impressive economic growth since the terrible genocide here that ended in 1994. Rwanda is a country with little corruption and big plans to become a technology leader in Africa. Even though they grow amazing vegetables and fruits here, Rwandans know that their land-locked country must find an industry other than agriculture if their people are to work their way out of poverty.
 
Now I am back in the White House press corps filing center. It’s funny to listen to the TV and radio reporters filing their stories. Surely they have seen many interesting things on this trip so far – but all of them are talking about the bed net factory they visited yesterday. They are amazed that children die from malaria transmitted by mosquito bites, that something as simple as an insecticide treated bed net can save lives…and that the United States is not only saving lives by buying these bednets for families – we are also providing jobs to the workers in the factory and better lives for their families as well.

-Taylor Royle

(A guest post from Seth Amgott, who’s working now in Tanzania.)

As a visitor to Tanzania, I’m taking malaria medication, and I bet President and Mrs. Bush are, too. If you live here, you can’t take the medicine forever, so you get sick, and your children are at risk.

But as an American and a ONE member, I’m loving that we help Tanzanians do something about it. Malaria is basically gone from Zanzibar, an island of 1 million people where it used to be everywhere, and starting to come down on the mainland.

That will happen much faster with President Bush’s announcement today that the U.S. and the Global Fund will distribute 5.2 million vouchers for low-cost nets.

I understood the need when I met Godlove Kiwanga yesterday just after he left church. I asked about malaria – he had it three weeks ago, high fever, serious pain, and lost income for three days. “People with money, they stay home for one week, two weeks. I had to work.” His daughter, Carry, is 3, and she was sick in December for over a week and had to have an IV at the hospital.

Carry sleeps under a mosquito net, but not the good kind. You can get long-last nights near his house in the capital, but they cost about $9 each, a lot in a poor country. “We have net original and net fakes. Fakes are cheap, 2000 shillings (about $1.80). It’s a big difference,” he said.

His next child will probably get an upgrade. Two years ago, (more…)

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Reuters: Bush offers more aid to fight malaria in Africa

On the third day of his five-nation Africa tour, Bush travelled to this northern Tanzanian city in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro to focus attention on the mosquito-borne disease, which kills at least 1 million infants and children under age 5 in sub-Saharan Africa each year.

“For years malaria has been a health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease keeps sick workers home, school yards quiet, communities in mourning,” he said during a visit to Meru District Hospital. “The suffering caused by malaria is needless and every death caused by malaria is unacceptable.”

Calling the effort to help fight malaria in Africa a “campaign of compassion”, Bush announced a new plan, in partnership with the World Bank, to distribute 5.2 million insecticide-treated bed nets in Tanzania.

He said the campaign, which will begin within six months, will provide enough nets to protect every child in Tanzania between the ages of 1 and 5.

(Read full story)

The Independent UK: Popular in Africa: Bush has given more aid than any other US president

The US President’s visit to Benin, Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania may, on the surface, be about promoting America’s funding for Aids treatment, shoring up support for a US military base on the continent, and quietly scoping out new oil opportunities. But there is another, perhaps more important, reason for President Bush’s week-long visit to Africa: people actually like him here.

A recent report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that “the US image is much stronger in Africa than in other regions of the world”. At least 80 per cent of respondents in Ghana, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire were favourable to the US. In all other sub-Saharan African countries polled, there were more “favourables” than “non-favourables”. Part of the reason for that support is money. Lots of it.

(Read full story.)

As President Bush visits Africa this week, much attention will focus on the fight against HIV/AIDS, and rightly so. More than 1.4 million men, women and children now receive anti-retroviral drugs because of the generosity of the American people. The President’s AIDS initiative has been a soaring success – a case study in the power of American compassion to save lives.  
 
But while the fight against HIV/AIDS deserves this attention, there is other good news on the African continent that goes beyond the progress made against this terrible epidemic.
 
On his visit to Tanzania, President Bush signed the largest agreement ever – $700 million – as part of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). Like the President’s AIDS initiative, the MCA is a bold, innovative venture of American leadership.
 
The MCA has fundamentally changed the way the United States delivers financial support. The account gives African leaders and governments incentives and practical help to fight corruption, free their economies from repressive and unfair policies and increase investment in education and health. Countries that take these courageous steps are awarded a MCA compact. To date, more than two-thirds of the MCA’s $5.5 billion is being invested in African countries that are enacting broad-based, fundamental reforms. Other African nations, which naturally want their own financial support, are getting the message and starting down the difficult but crucial road toward government transparency and accountability.
 
More than simply sending dollars, the MCA lays the groundwork for sustainable growth in Africa – the type of growth that can raise millions above extreme poverty. Economic development, in the long run, results from trade and foreign investment. The most effective kind of aid helps build the infrastructure, human capital and legal structures that encourage trade and invite investment – roads, health care, education and strengthening the rule of law.
 
Today, the MCA has been such a success in Africa that there are many more countries competing for its funds than there are funds available. Congress should fully fund this vital program. And I hope ONE Members, and all voters who care about seeing the African people succeed, will push their leaders to invest in the promise of the African people by investing in the MCA.
 
-Michael Gerson

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2/19/08 UPDATE: This was cross posted onto Townhall today.

Last summer the New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project released a poll that showed that Africans were “wary but hopeful” about their future and the future of the continent. With devastating poverty, a massive AIDS epidemic and political strife, their hope seems remarkable. And it is this hope and their hard work, coupled with increased efforts by the U.S., which are making Africa a better place. Still, much more must be done.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 11 percent of the world’s population and only three percent of the world’s health care workers. It suffers nearly half of the world’s deaths from infectious diseases and bears nearly two-thirds of the world’s HIV burden.

Thankfully, due to global leadership, over $7 billion has been distributed to 136 counties through the Global Fund in just 5 years. This program expands our ability to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria – a devastating but treatable and preventable disease. To date, every dollar committed by the US has been matched and doubled by contributions from other donors. The Global Fund needs to be expanded so we can continue to invest in the future of the continent by ensuring Africans have access to basic health care. This is a priority of mine and of ONE.

While I don’t agree with the President about much, we both feel that improving access to health care is one of the most important things our country can provide to the people of Africa. He has made good on his commitment by proposing to spend $30 billion over 5 years to combat global AIDS through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). I’m proud of this program and will work in the Senate to make sure that it is not only funded but expanded.

We are making strides, and we should be proud of our work to date, but we must continue to challenge ourselves to do more.

-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

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UPDATE: Cross Posted on the Huffington Post.

Some News Clips from the Day:

Bush, in Africa, Urges Congress to Double AIDS Relief (Bloomberg):

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush urged the U.S. Congress to double spending for his AIDS program, while he signed an almost $700 million infrastructure grant to Tanzania and said his administration would continue to reward African leaders that it trusts.

“I want to ask Congress to listen to the leaders of Africa, analyze what works, stop the squabbling and get the program reauthorized,” Bush said today at Tanzania’s statehouse in Dar es Salaam, in a press conference with President Jakaya Kikwete.

(Read full story)

Bush, in Africa, Emphasizes Successes (New York Times):

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — As violence in Africa threatened to overshadow his six-day tour of the continent, President Bush on Saturday defended his decision not to visit strife-torn nations like Kenya and Sudan, saying he wanted to focus instead on successes like his programs to fight AIDS and malaria.

“This is a large place with a lot of nations, and no question, everything is not perfect,” Mr. Bush said during a brief visit to Benin before arriving Saturday evening here in the capital of Tanzania. “On the other hand, there’s a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories.”

(Read full story)


Bush confronts Africa policy critics (AFP):

DAR ES SALAAM (AFP) — US President George W. Bush with backing from Tanzania’s leader Sunday defended US policies towards Africa, from efforts to end Kenya’s bloody political crisis to the war on HIV/AIDS…
”It’s a program that’s been proven effective,” he said, telling US lawmakers: “Listen to leaders on the continent of Africa, analyze what works, stop the squabbling, and get the program reauthorized.”

(Read full story)

Hi there,

President Bush took off for Benin last night, and will also visit Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, and Liberia in the next 6 days.

We expect the trip to cover several of the bipartisan programs ONE supporters have been supporting for years, such as PEPFAR, PMI, the MCA and AGOA.

The ONE policy staff, who we love, put together briefs on all of these topics so that you can peruse at your leisure during the next few days. As news pours in as to what our president is doing day-to-day on his Africa trip, I’ll likely be referring back to the stats in these quick, easy-to-read briefs.

• PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)
• PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative)
• MCA (Millennium Challenge Account)
• AGOA (The African Growth and Opportunity Act)

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-Virginia Simmons