Bush Says G8 Must Remain Accountable

Moments ago President Bush appeared at the Rose Garden to speak about his upcoming trip to the G8 Summit in Japan. President Bush spoke of the G8 leaders’ 2005 promises to double development aid by 2010, and said one of his major agenda items at the summit will be to rally our partners to “make commitments and meet commitments.”

You can watch video of his remarks below. I also transcribed a portion of his speech. I hope to post the full transcript up here soon.

“Now we need to show the world that the G8 can be accountable for its promises and deliver results…

Accountability is really important when it comes to our work on the continent of Africa. 2005 G8 leaders promised to double development assistance to Africa by 2010. America’s on track to meet our commitments, and in Japan I’ll urge other nations to fulfill their commitments as well.

We must also fulfill our committments in the battle against HIV/AIDS and malaria. I’ve asked Congress to reauthorize and expand the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, doubling our funding for this vital effort. It’s very important that Congress reauthorize this plan, but in the meantime we’re fulfilling our promises that we made, not only to the G8 but more importantly to the people on the continent of Africa.

It’s important that over the next 5 years, we support antiretroviral treatment for approximately 2.5 million people. That we prevent 12 million new AIDS infections and that we care for 12 million people also effected by HIV/AIDS including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children.

Last year the G8 agreed to meet those commitments. They agreed to match. They also agreed to help us reduce malaria in effected-countries by half. I hope that these countries understand the great promise and hope that comes when [clip cuts off here.] So one of my really important agenda items is gonna rally our partners to make commitments and meet commitments.”

President Bush talked went on to talk about healthcare workers, neglected tropical diseases, the food crisis, agriculture and trade.

-Virginia Simmons

UPDATE: Full transcript is now after the jump. (more…)

Bush Seeks E.U. Support Fighting Diseases

At the annual U.S.-E.U. summit today, President Bush will ask for support from the European Union in fighting treatable diseases in Africa.

From Reuters:

“These are seven significant diseases which together afflict close to a billion people,” Dan Price, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to the summit in Slovenia.

“These diseases are treatable and beatable by medicines that are available today,” Price said, adding that it would cost around $1 billion. The United States has already committed $350 million over the next five years, he said.

-Virginia Simmons

Bush Responds- Transcript Now Live

This afternoon, just hours after ONE staff dropped off a petition at the White House with nearly 120,000 signers, President Bush stood before press and TV cameras to call for $770 million in emergency food aid.

You can now see a transcript of his 3:30 PM public speech here.

Some excerpts:

In recent weeks, many have expressed concern about the significant increase in global food prices. And I share this concern. In some of the world’s poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food…

I think more needs to be done, and so today I am calling on Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support food aid and development programs. Together, this amounts to nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster global food security…

As America increases its food assistance, it’s really important that we transform the way that food aid is delivered. In my State of the Union address this year, I called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to nearly 25 percent of food assistance directly from farmers in the developing world. And the reason you do that is, in order to break the cycle of famine that we’re having to deal with too often in a modern era, it’s important to help build up local agriculture…

We believe in a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is expected. And so therefore at home we are working to ensure that the neediest among us can cope with the rising food prices. And with the new international funding I’m announcing today, we’re sending a clear message to the world: that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come.

Thank you very much for your interest. God bless.

Read the full transcript here.

-Virginia Simmons

Bush Talking about Hunger Crisis Live Now

It’s being covered live on CNN. Not sure yet if it’s on other channels yet.

$200 Million for Food Crisis

Yesterday afternoon, President Bush ordered $200 million in emergency food aid to help alleviate food shortages around the developing world. The money will come from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, a reserve account for emergency food aid needs.

From a Reuters’ piece:

“White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had said Bush, who was briefed about the food crisis during a cabinet meeting earlier on Monday, was “very concerned” and asked senior aides to look into ways the United States could help ease shortages.

Washington provided more than $2.1 billion in international food aid in fiscal 2007.

Perino had said the administration was sticking to its proposal to buy more of the food used in assistance programs from suppliers closer to needy countries, which would cut transportation costs. U.S. agricultural interests have resisted the idea….

At the United Nations on Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rapidly worsening food shortages around the world had “reached emergency proportions.”

“We need not only short-term emergency measures to meet urgent critical needs and avert starvation in many regions across the world but also a significant increase in long-term productivity in food grain production,” Ban said.

Read the full article here.

-Virginia Simmons

Football, the IMFs and an Editorial

Britain and France will today announce a joint initiative to help send 16 million African children to school in the next two years, in partnership with international football authorities.

The Guardian: Plan to put 16m African children into school

At the East African Health and Scientific Conference in Kenya on Wednesday, experts testified that constraints in the health sector are exacerbating health problems in rural communities. Some blamed conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in the early 1990s.

Daily Nation: Shortage of health staff hits East African states

An editorial by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, appeared in today’s Washington Times. The piece praises President Bush’s work in Africa, noting that this story hasn’t made headlines in the United States but is making headlines around the world.

Washington Times: Bush’s Africa legacy

-Chandler Smith

They Heard Us

The 100,000 “Visit Africa” petitions have been delivered and we’ve heard back from the candidates.

After you check out the candidates’ responses, take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Writing a letter to the editor is your chance to talk about the poverty-fighting successes highlighted on the recent presidential trip to Africa - successes ONE members have helped make possible - and our campaign urging the next president to visit Africa in his or her first term.

-Aaron Banks

Frist: a question for our next president.



For Americans, and especially our next president, President Bush’s trip to Africa last week wasn’t a victory lap. It’s a starting line. A challenge. The opening, not the closing, of a legacy in which medicine and health diplomacy serve as a currency for peace.

The trip demonstrated for the next president, whoever that may be, the tremendous opportunity that awaits in Africa. Yes, there is much work to do, and we are still confronted by staggering realities: More than 24.7 million people still have HIV/AIDS in Africa alone; thousands still die from malaria each day, and more than one billion people worldwide still don’t have access to clean water.

But never before have we had the tools we now possess to do this vital work - the medicines and technologies that are saving lives as you read these words have never been so inexpensive and so readily available. When you think about it, it’s amazing that AIDS drugs now cost as little as $1 a day . . . that a mosquito net can now protect a child from malaria for five years for $5 . . . that a well can provide clean, safe drinking water for 20 years at a cost of only $20 a person.
And never before have we had so many answers to the doubts of the past, the criticisms that dominated the debate over the effectiveness of American foreign assistance for a generation. Many of the old presumptions about Africa and other developing regions have been proved wrong, addressed through transparency and accountability, or dismissed by new approaches and 21st century technologies.

Last week President Bush visited some of the HIV-positive men, women, and children in poverty-stricken communities who are living today because of American-funded medicines. To date, around 1.4 million Africans now receive anti-retroviral pills through the president’s AIDS initiative.

Want to see health diplomacy making a difference? Want to see medicine serving as a currency for peace? Stare into the eyes of a mother whose daughter is alive thanks to America.

Critics once said that investing in Africa was worse than throwing money away, that the dollars would find their way into corrupt leaders’ bank accounts and perpetuate poverty. But the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) has changed the way America provides foreign assistance, attacking corruption head on by engaging leaders to take the difficult steps toward government reform, accountability, and transparency.

Just last week the president signed the largest MCA grant ever, a $698 million agreement with Tanzania. More than merely sending dollars, the MCA ensures that American assistance not only reaches those it’s designed to help, but that it’s setting structures in place - the rule of law, freer economic policies - for African countries to thrive on their own.
Last week we saw what American compassion and leadership can look like when invested in proven, effective solutions we know work.

I hope our next president is paying attention. I hope he or she sees the power of American health diplomacy, of using medicine as a currency for peace: the power to save lives, to lead under the guiding principles of compassion and human dignity.

We have the science. We can afford the pills and bed nets and wells. We have answers to the classic criticisms of the past. The question that remains is simple: Do we have the will to employ all this know-how, all these answers to help countless people throughout the world?

That sounds like a question for our next president.



-Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D.

Breaking the 100,000 Barrier

More than 100,000 ONE members have signed ONE Action’s “Visit Africa” petition.

Send it to a friend to keep the momentum going.

Working Toward 100K

In just a week and a half, 97,220 ONE members have signed ONE Action’s “Visit Africa” petition.

We’re hoping to reach 100,00 by Monday at noon.

Sign on now if you haven’t already.

And send on to your friends if you have.

-Virginia Simmons