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REMARKS BY: TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESPLACE: U.S.-South Africa Intergovernmental Consultation on Health, Pretoria, South AfricaDATE: April 3, 2002
Good morning. The U.S. delegation and I are very pleased to be here to learn about your health programs and the health challenges you are facing in South Africa. This is a difficult period for you, and I appreciate the opportunity of being with you and discussing these critical issues.
The American delegation includes representatives of government, religious and other non-profit groups and private industry. It represents a broad cross-section of American society and demonstrates the concern of all Americans regarding the health needs of your region.
President Bush's recent commitment to vastly increase overseas assistance, including assistance for health, is most relevant here in Africa. The White House designated my trip a Presidential Mission, since this is the first opportunity for the Administration to take our message of the Millennium Challenge Fund directly to senior African leaders.
The Bush Administration, including those of us at the Department of Health and Human Services, consider our partnership with South Africa one of the most important relationships we have with any government. South Africa is a regional and world leader in many areas. In health and biomedical research, South African scientists and clinicians unquestionably set the standard for Africa. Because of this, our health collaborations are truly partnerships and we look forward to their continuation and even expansion.
One demonstration of our commitment to this relationship is my decision to place a significant number of employees from my Department here. Just last month, we assigned the only HHS Health Attach‚ and regional representative in Southern Africa to the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria. So I would like to formally introduce Gray Handley, who has been reassigned from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health within our Department.
Gray has had diplomatic experience: From 1992 to1998, he served as our regional attach‚ in South Asia. It is Gray's job to serve as your point of contact with our Department and to assure that our joint health activities remain vital. In addition, we have a growing presence here from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in our Department, continuing to provide our very best expert support at the request of the South African government on TB, STDs, HIV/AIDS prevention and disease surveillance. In particular, I want to recognize David Allen and Renee Saunders for their efforts.
There are many health issues threatening the well-being of people in the U.S., South Africa and nations throughout the world. It is important that friends like our two countries work together to address the issues of greatest moment for both of us.
We must together address human hunger and food security, drawing more on the solutions provided by science and biotechnology. New variants of crops offer the potential to raise agricultural productivity and improve health and nutrition in Africa. The European approach to regulating foods enhanced by biotechnology will not work, will devastate potential developing country exports and will block needed development of sustainable biotech crops to ease problems of starvation and nutrition worldwide.
We must together address the threat of bioterrorism. The events of September 11, 2001, have underscored to the entire international community that terrorists are willing to inflict mass civilian casualties in order to advance their political agendas.
The anthrax attacks against Americans that occurred last October broke a second barrier- use of deadly disease as a weapon. We greatly appreciate the expressions of solidarity and support that we received from the Government of the Republic of South Africa and its people in the dark days of last fall.
We must confront those who would use living organisms as weapons of terror through coordinated research on vaccines and new treatments. In recent years, our experts have come to view smallpox as the number one bioterrorism threat. The likelihood of the virus' use as a bioweapon at this time seems small. But we just don't know what to expect, so we have to prepare for the possibility of enormous medical and public health consequences of a biological attack.
To deal with these new security and health challenges, the world will need improved biodefense and health capabilities. We must improve our understanding of the virus and complete the development of effective protective vaccines, accurate diagnostic tests and effective therapeutic interventions, such as antiviral drugs- all necessary elements of a broader biodefense and public health response.
The need for new drugs and vaccines is particularly acute in parts of the world like this one with large populations of immuno-suppressed or immuno-compromised people, for whom the current vaccine could be lethal.
We also must do more, much more, to confront the challenges of HIV/AIDS. We believe public-private partnerships are crucial to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and treating those who are affected by the disease. For the next U.S. fiscal year 2003, President Bush has proposed $1.1 billion to help fight HIV/AIDS in the developing world - a 13 percent increase over FY 2002.
That amount includes $500 million in U.S. support for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, and rest assured that we will work with Congress to increase this commitment as the Fund proves successful, as I am confident it will. I should note that, as many of you probably know, I have the honor of serving as the U.S. Representative to the Board of the Fund.
I have told the Minister that we stand ready to support the South African Government's efforts to rapidly expand efforts to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. Also, if we can help by jointly convening a conference on this subject that involves other countries with successful programs, to share sound science and best practices, we would be willing to work with you to this end. Our shared goal is to save the lives of everyone threatened by this scourge. The fact that there are an estimated 12 million AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa continues to haunt me. We've simply got to do more, and do it right.
We must also act more quickly. We cannot let secondary issues interfere with our care for our people. That is why we are encouraged by South Africa's efforts in HIV prevention. Prevention is a proven strategy. Individual accountability, behavior change and abstinence-based approaches must be part of prevention efforts, as they are in the United States. And we salute the Minister and her team for their commitment to battle tuberculosis, a deadly killer on the rise because of HIV that is devastating many communities here.
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis are global challenges that require a global response to which we all - government, business and charitable organizations - must provide our energy, talent and resources.
The Minister and I have spoken about the opportunities and benefits of scientific and medical advances. But there are risks in unbridled experimentation. Human cloning - for any purpose - is an enormously troubling development in biotechnology. It is unethical in itself and dangerous as a precedent. Cloning is an unethical experimentation on a child-to-be, subjecting him or her to enormous risks of bodily and developmental abnormalities. It risks making women's bodies a commodity, with women being paid to undergo risky drug treatment so they will produce the many eggs that are needed for cloning.
It is also a giant step toward a society in which life is created for convenience, human beings are grown for spare body parts, and children are engineered to fit eugenic specification. And, as such, it is a giant step away from human dignity.
We cannot allow human life to be devalued in this way. We are grateful that the Government of South Africa has agreed with President Bush in supporting a ban on all forms of human cloning.
I look forward to the next few presentations to help fill out our review of the health situation here in South Africa. I have asked Mr. Handley briefly to review what we currently are doing together and then the Minister and I would appreciate an open discussion among the health leaders here about where we might go in the future.
Finally, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the assistance and gracious hospitality all of you, and in particular you, Madam Minister, have provided during the planning for this visit and since we have been here. I realize there have been many changes in our schedule that have made planning a challenge for you, so we are most thankful for your help. I look forward to welcoming you when you are able to visit the United States and to our continuing discussions as our cooperative programs proceed.
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