GLOBAL AIDS ALLIANCE CALLS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HONOR HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISES ON GLOBAL AIDS AND EDUCATION

[Guest guest]

Dear Colleagues,

Please share this GAA press release, issued today, July 8, 2009, in

anticipation of President Obama's visit to Ghana on Friday and Saturday

of this week.

Best regards,

Skip Moskey

GAA Director of Communications & Public Affairs

_______________

June 8, 2009

GLOBAL AIDS ALLIANCE CALLS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HONOR HIS CAMPAIGN

PROMISES ON GLOBAL AIDS AND EDUCATION

" The President's visit to Ghana is a perfect opportunity for him to

reflect on the impact of his broken campaign promises on global AIDS and

education, especially in Africa, and to honor those promises made to the

American people, and to the world. " - Zeitz

Washington, DC (Wednesday, July 08, 2009) - On the eve of President

Obama's visit to Ghana, Global AIDS Alliance executive director Dr.

Zeitz called on the President to honor his campaign promises on U.S.

responses to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and on education of the

world's children. " The President's visit to Ghana is a perfect

opportunity for him to reflect on the impact of his broken campaign

promises on global AIDS and education, especially in Africa, and to

honor those promises made to the American people, and to the world, "

said Zeitz.

Broken Promises on Global HIV/AIDS

" When President Barack Obama released his US$3.6 trillion budget on May

7, he broke two campaign promises and created a total shortfall of

US$3.3 billion in U.S. support for global AIDS funding through U.S.

bilateral AIDS programs, including PEPFAR, and for the Global Fund to

Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, " said Zeitz. " Unless the U.S.

Congress steps up and fully funds the President's campaign promises,

which seems unlikely, millions of people will suffer, " he said.

GAA estimates that as a consequence of President Obama's broken promises

on AIDS:

* One million people around the world will not receive treatment for

AIDS.

* 2.9 million women won't receive services to prevent mother-to-child

transmission of HIV.

* 27 million people will not access sexual disease transmission

prevention programs.

* 1.9 million orphans and other children affected by or vulnerable to

HIV/AIDS will not receive care and support services.

Broken Promises on Education for the World's Children

During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised that his Administration would

take a leadership role by providing at least $2 billion to establish a

Global Fund for Education, which would enable a coordinated, global

approach to meeting the education needs of the world's children. " The

President and his Administration have been silent on this promise since

his election, leaving millions of children without hope of educational

attainment, " said Zeitz.

Worldwide, 75 million children are unable to attend school, 226 million

adolescents are not enrolled in secondary school, and 770 million adults

remain illiterate. In over 50 countries, many in sub-Saharan Africa,

half of all children never complete primary school. Yet literacy is

widely considered a prerequisite for economic development, and education

the key to breaking inter-generational cycles of poverty.

" It is the most vulnerable children, including those orphaned by AIDS,

who are most likely to be excluded from accessing a safe and quality

basic education, " said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Honorary Chair of the

Global AIDS Alliance Advisory Council. " We call on the G8 to support

President Obama to fulfill the [promise] he made during his campaigning

for president to set up this Global Fund for education and call on his

colleagues, especially the British prime Minister, to join in giving the

world's children real new hope, " said Tutu.

" Underfunding these critical health and education priorities will have

grave consequences, especially during the current global economic

crisis, " said Zeitz. " President Obama's visit to sub-Saharan Africa

should be a reminder of the promises he made to people around the globe

to be a model of leadership and action-oriented policy on health and

education, " he said.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS STORY:

GAA Fact Sheet on President Obama's Four Broken Campaign Promises:

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/page/-/PDFs/Broken_Promises_Factsheet_

May_2009.pdf

Background on the Global Fund for Education

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/page/-/PDFs/GCE_Global_Fund_Education.

pdf

Letter to the Heads of G8 from , Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

and Prof. Muhammad Yunus calling for the creation of a Global Fund for

Education

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/page/-/PDFs/G8_LETTER_ON_GLOBAL_FUND_F

OR_EDUCATION_FINAL.pdf

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