2003 Africare Dinner Honors People Involved in the Fight Against hiv/aids

[Guest guest]

2003 Africare Dinner Honors People Involved in the Fight Against

HIV/AIDS Worldwide

Africare House

440 R Street,

N.W. Washington, DC 20001 USA

Tel. 202-462-3614

Email: development@a...

On Thursday evening, October 9, 2003, in Washington, D.C., the

Africare Bishop Dinner-the largest annuual fundraiser for

Africa in the United States-honored the people on the front lines of

the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and worldwide, while drawing

attention to the successes and challenges of the AIDS crisis. U.S.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. emphasized

the urgency in the struggle against HIV/AIDS in the keynote address

he delivered at the Dinner: There are 6,500 individuals dying every

day in Africa [from AIDS], but the worst thing is that 8,500 more are

coming down with this terrible disease. This isn't a war, this is an

emergency...and every single one of us in this room has got to stand

up and take on this fight.

At the Dinner, this year's Bishop T. Distinguished

Humanitarian Service Award (named for the late T. , the

first African-American Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C.) was

presented to Bill and Melinda Gates, Co-Founders of the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation, for outstanding work in the arena of global

health, including the African HIV/AIDS crisis; for raising public

awareness of global health issues as well as other issues of

importance, both in the United States and abroad; and for

encouraging, by example, activist philanthropy for a new generation

and a new millennium. Secretary called Mr. and Mrs.

Gates " examples for the world " because " they give of their time,

their money, their resources, and their hearts. "

Mr. and Mrs. Gates delivered their acceptance of the award via

videotape, and Mr. Bill Gates, Sr., father and father-in-law of the

award recipients and Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation, received the award on their behalf. " Bill and Melinda

believe with their hearts and souls that every human life has equal

worth, " noted Mr. Gates in his acceptance speech. " That's the

founding ideal of our philanthropy. " This belief in equity and

respect for all human life has been the catalyst for the Gates

Foundation's work in global health. " We believe that the world's

greatest inequity that does the gravest damage is the inequity in

global health care, " Mr. Gates stated. " Poorer health aggravates

poverty, poverty deepens disease, and families trapped in that spiral

can never escape unless we help. "

In his remarks, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist also voiced

the need to fight HIV/AIDS because of basic reasons of human

worth. " We gather together to fight this little virus for a moral

reason, " Senator Frist emphasized. " It's based on the dignity

inherent in each one of us as individual human beings and that

overall oneness of humanity...as a people of this country, and as a

people of this world. " Noting the work that the current U.S.

administration has pledged to do to fight the worldwide AIDS crisis,

Senator Frist expressed optimism. " I am confident, as a physician and

as a scientist and probably equally so as a United States Senator,

that we will defeat this most daunting moral, public health, and

humanitarian challenge of the last 100 years. "

The Bishop Dinner was attended by nearly 2,000 people, with

representation from corporations, government, the nonprofit sector,

and many individuals. The 2003 Dinner will raise over $1 million for

Africare's mission of assistance to Africa. The Africare Bishop

T. Memorial Dinner is Africare's major benefit event and has

been held in Washington, D.C. every fall since 1990.

This year's Bishop Dinner was headed by National Honorary

Patron, the Honorable Jimmy ; International Honorary Patrons,

the chairmen of Africa's major regional organizations: the African

Union (President Chissano of Mozambique), CEMAC (President Sassou-

Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo), COMESA (President al-Bashir of

Sudan), ECOWAS (President Kufuor of Ghana), and SADC (President Mkapa

of Tanzania); National Chair, the Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.,

Founder and President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine, and

former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; and General

Chairs, the Honorable Jack Kemp, Co-Director, Empower America, and

former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and the

Honorable Rodney Slater, Partner, Patton Boggs LLP, and former U.S.

Secretary of Transportation. , wife of the late Bishop

, served as Honorary Chair.

Other key participants in the event included Maureen Bunyan, Anchor,

WJLA-TV, as Mistress of Ceremonies; the Honorable A. Dalley,

Esq., Chairman of the Africare Board of Directors; and Julius E.

Coles, President of Africare. Also featured in the program was a

musical performance by the internationally renowned Senegalese

musician Youssou N'Dour; and remarks by the Honorable Satcher,

M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General and Director, National Center for

Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine; the Honorable Barbara

Lee, U.S. Representative (California), member of the House

Subcommittee on Africa, and HIV/AIDS activist; and the Honorable

V. Dellums, Former Chairman, Presidential Advisory Council on

HIV/AIDS, and former Congressman, California

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