U.S. Should Allocate More Dollars for U.N. AIDS Fund, Editorial Says

Senate Democrats' proposal last month to allocate $100 million this year and an additional $150 million next year to the U.N. Global AIDS and Health Fund is "shocking" and "appalling," given the scope of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, an Eugene Register-Guard editorial states. Although the House's proposal of $750 million for the fund is "certainly ... more generous," the editorial says that even it is "still far short of the billions of dollars that this nation should be committing to wage all-out war on a disease that already has killed more people than World War II and has cost the world $500 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses." Congress and the Bush administration "must lead the way" in providing funds for the U.N. plan, but "the real problem is that officials in Washington ... have yet to fully grasp the magnitude of the AIDS pandemic and the absolute necessity for the international community to wage a holy war against it," the editorial states. The editorial notes, "AIDS seems a far more prudent and effective investment than, say, a $100 billion missile defense system that won't work." The editorial concludes, "The question is not whether the war against AIDS can be won. It's whether the United States and the nations of the world will provide the necessary resources -- and resolve" (Eugene Register-Guard, 8/28).