After hearing that President Bush plans to travel to Africa at the end of this week, ONE members started signing a petition.

We’re hoping to have 50,000 signatures by the time the president lands back in the States on the 21st, and in just 24 hours, 34,441 ONE members have already signed on. If you haven’t already added your name to the petition, I hope you will. These final weeks of the primaries are some of the best moments we have to focus the attention of the next president of the United States on Africa and the developing world.

I also hope that you’ll keep checking back to the ONE Blog during the next week, as we’ll be posting updates and guest posts here all throughout the president’s trip. The president’s trip creates an unique opportunity to focus the media and country on Africa- and I for one hope ONE and our allies can make the most of it.

Ginny

President Bush leaves Friday for a week-long trip to Africa. In Rwanda, Benin, Tanzania, Ghana and Liberia, he’ll see the positive impact of the programs ONE members have lobbied for. To make sure the next president is committed to working with Africa to end extreme poverty and disease, we’ve launched a petition to the presidential candidates asking them to pledge to visit Africa in their first term. You can sign it here: http://www.one.org/visitafrica

You can also check out John McKinnon’s preview of the trip in the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120251366075155091.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

President Bush starts a victory lap across Africa next week, celebrating his little-noticed but successful fights there against AIDS and malaria. But he also will be running hard to avoid the shadow of a growing number of political crises and controversies in the region.

As Mr. Bush enters his final 12 months in office, advocates are praising his campaign to battle disease and promote economic growth in poor countries, especially in Africa. It has emerged as a bright spot in a foreign-policy legacy marred by controversy over the Iraq war.

Bono, the Irish rock star turned global gadfly, once said that Mr. Bush has done “an incredible job” with his AIDS campaign. As it nears the end of its first five years, it has put 1.4 million people on life-sustaining therapies at a cost to the U.S. of more than $15 billion. The Bono-affiliated ONE campaign broadened its praise last month, saying Mr. Bush deserves credit for his fights against malaria and extreme poverty in the region. The White House hopes the trip will lock in congressional support for his initiatives, particularly as he is seeking a doubling of funding for combating AIDS to $30 billion over the next five years.