Laura Bush calls for U.S. AIDS funding approval

By Deborah Charles

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - After visiting the world's oldest AIDS clinic and meeting HIV-positive Haitians, U.S. first lady Laura Bush on Thursday urged lawmakers to approve tens of billions of dollars more to combat the disease.

"As we speak, the second reauthorization of PEPFAR is being discussed in the U.S. Congress," Mrs. Bush said, referring to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The program was launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 to provide support programs and drugs in 15 countries -- 12 in Africa plus Vietnam, Guyana and Haiti -- to treat people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

"I feel very encouraged that the United States will reauthorize," said Mrs. Bush during a visit to GHESKIO -- a Haitian clinic which was established in 1982 and calls itself the first institution in the world dedicated exclusively to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Bush has asked Congress to approve a doubling of funds to combat the disease globally to $30 billion over five years, starting next year. Haiti is due to receive about $100 million in PEPFAR funding in the year ending September 30.

The U.S. Senate is now debating a law that would increase the global figure to $50 billion to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis during the next five years.

Bush sees his initiatives against AIDS and malaria as foreign policy successes in an administration dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq. During a trip to Africa last month, he was given a hero's welcome in part for malaria and AIDS programs.

AIDS activists have praised PEPFAR for getting life-extending drugs to people who otherwise would go without them but have criticized its prevention measures for focusing too heavily on encouraging sexual abstinence.