Washington, D.C., July 5, 2005 – In an exclusive broadcast by the Voice of America (VOA) President George W. Bush has told Africans that fighting HIV/AIDS on their continent is a top priority of the United States.
According to the president, America’s emergency plan for AIDS relief in Africa has had significant results.
“In 2002, before this plan was announced, less than 50,000 people in all of sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment,” he said.
“As of March of this year, the emergency plan had made treatment possible for more than 230,000 men, women and children in sub-Saharan Africa, far exceeding the goals we set in January 2004. We are well on track to make our goal of supporting life-saving treatment for 2 million African adults and children by the end of 2008.”
His remarks come soon after his proposal to double U.S. aid to Africa by 2010, and just days before the G8 summit. The summit’s host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has made Africa one of the summit’s main themes.
The president’s message was featured on VOA’s Healthy Living program to Africa and is available on VOA’s web page at http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-07-05-voa20.cfm.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages, including English.
For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 401-7000 or e-mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.
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