The Administration’s FY2004 request for international HIV/AIDS spending would commit $450 million to a new Global AIDS Initiative to be administered by the Department of State. This is the principal FY2004 component of the President’s 5-year, $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, announced in the State of the Union Message on January 28, 2003. The Administration is seeking $300 million for the President’s Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative in FY2004, up from $200 million in the FY2003 request. The request for a contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is $200 million, while Congress made available $350 million for the Global Fund in FY2003.
Most funding for international HIV/AIDS programs is included in appropriations for Foreign Operations and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education. For FY2003, these appropriations were part of the conference version of the Omnibus Appropriations Resolution (H.J.Res. 2/P.L. 108-7), accepted by the House and Senate on February 13, 2003, and signed into law by President Bush on February 20. The Administration submitted its FY2004 budget proposal, including proposals for international HIV/AIDS spending, on February 3, 2003.
Table 1 summarizes requests and appropriations for international HIV/AIDS activities in FY2003 and FY2004 and compares them with spending in FY2002. The figures in Table 1 include U.S. contributions to the new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund). The Fund reports that approximately 60% of the funds to be disbursed will go to projects working in HIV/AIDS. In the FY2003 Request column, the amounts for Child Survival and Health Programs Fund Assistance and for the Global AIDS Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services include funds requested in a budget amendment submitted by President Bush on September 3, 2002.
The largest part of Child Survival HIV/AIDS spending goes toward the bilateral HIV/AIDS programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). However, some of this funding is used as part of the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund and for other purposes. Details on the makeup of the Global Fund contribution are provided in Table 2. The FY2003 Omnibus Appropriations states that up to $100 million in Child Survival AIDS funds may be used to support the International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative. As noted above, this is the amount requested by the Administration. The FY2004 request shown in line 1 is $50 million above the FY2003 request, reflecting the Administration’s request for $150 million for the Initiative.
The Global AIDS Initiative, referred to in Line 4 of Table 1, is the major component of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, announced by President Bush in his State of the Union message on January 28, 2003. This 5-year plan will total $15 billion and is to include $10 billion in new funds. The Global AIDS Initiative, if approved by Congress, will be a Department of State program focused on 12 African countries as well as Haiti and Guyana. Objectives include prevention of 7 million new infections, antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people, and care for 10 million individuals, including AIDS orphans. Appropriations for the Initiative are slated to increase sharply in future years under the Administration plan