Bush touts gains on AIDS in Africa

In Tanzania, tells US Congress to renew funding

President Bush walked through a ceremonial arrival cordon with President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania at the state house in Dar es Salaam yesterday. He wants funding to continue for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, known as Pepfar. (Lawrence Jackson/Associated Press)

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - With old and young providing testament to the success of a US-funded effort to fight AIDS, President Bush yesterday called for Congress to renew the program quickly and said that helping Africa was in the national and moral interests of the United States.

The program provides readier access to antiretroviral drugs, easing the impact of the disease on many. It also puts a strong focus on premarital sexual abstinence, drawing criticism from the Institute of Medicine and the Government Accountability Office, which have said that this reliance limits the program's reach.

However, Bush said Congress should "see what works."

"It is a balanced program. It is an ABC program: abstinence, be faithful, and condoms. It's a program that's been proven effective," he said, speaking at a news conference with President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, an enthusiastic supporter of the effort.

"I understand there's voices on both ends of the political spectrum trying to alter the program," Bush said. "I would ask Congress to listen to leaders on the continent of Africa . . . analyze what works, stop the squabbling, and get the program reauthorized."

With the five-year authorization for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, known as Pepfar, coming to an end this year, Bush has asked that the funding be increased from the $18 billion spent so far to $30 billion for the next five. The administration had hoped Congress would renew the program by the end of 2007, as a sign of support and continuity. Its eventual renewal is not expected.

The president's wife, Laura, speaking with a small group of reporters in Dar es Salaam, responded to critics who say $50 billion is needed by saying that the countries benefiting from the program did not have the capacity to absorb that much money efficiently and that "for budget reasons, it should stay at $30 billion."

Bush and Kikwete visited a hospital, meeting with staff and with two people whose precarious health was restored by antiretroviral drugs, Honorati Valeri Shirima, 77, and Steven Rogers, 31. The Bush visit turned a presidential spotlight on what is widely seen as one of Africa's success stories: The increase in testing for HIV/AIDS and the increasing availability of drugs, even as the demands on such programs continue to grow.

Bush is in the midst of a six-day, five-country trip across Africa's midsection, intended to highlight the fight against AIDS and malaria and to encourage political and tribal reconciliation and economic progress.

"It's in our national interest that America help deal with hopelessness; and it's in our moral interests that we help brothers and sisters that hurt," Bush said.

However, Bush has been criticized for not putting a similar effort into tackling the postelection political turmoil in Kenya and violent conflicts in Sudan and in Chad, three nations not on his tour.

With Bush at his side, Kikwete said that while "different people may have different views about you and your administration," the president's legacy would include "saving hundreds of thousands of mothers' and children's lives form malaria" and preventing HIV infections.

Bush, responding to a reporter's question about why it had taken him seven years to visit Tanzania, said, "I don't have many excuses, except I've been a pretty busy guy."

However, his wife said later that she and Bush would return after he leaves office - because, she said, he had promised their daughters he would take them on a safari. She seemed to put that promise in the category of one apparently made much earlier: to take them camping in the Grand Canyon. Her tone of voice suggested he owed them that trip, too.