Kerry -- Fighting HIV/AIDS

[Pez]

John Kerry --Fighting HIV/AIDS

“The United States must be a leader in assembling an international coalition with other governments and private sector partners a coalition with the will and the resources to confront the pandemic of HIV/AIDS with the same will that we bring to the war on terrorism.”

Senator Kerry has been at the forefront of the battle against HIV/AIDS, authoring major elements of the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000, legislation that was signed into law by President Clinton in August of 2000. He subsequently authored the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2002, sweeping legislation that would have significantly increased funding for treatment of these diseases while requiring the U.S. to adopt a comprehensive five year plan to win the global war against AIDS. That legislation was passed unanimously by the Senate and was a primary force in prompting the Administration to endorse global AIDS legislation this year. As he said in calling on America to take the lead in confronting the AIDS crisis in developing nations, “Responding is not only morally right, but deeply practical and fundamentally important to the cause of global stability and ultimately our own safety. How can countries or whole continents torn apart by an untreated epidemic successfully resist the call to violence, terror, and the trade of weapons of mass destruction?” Senator Kerry currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Center for Strategic & International Studies Task Force on Strengthening U.S. Leadership on HIV/AIDS.