Expanded Legislation Will Benefit Millions of Orphans and Vulnerable Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 3, 2008

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Janet Hodur, 202-589-0808 x224

WASHINGTON - Desperately-needed assistance for millions of orphans and vulnerable children living in the developing world was brought closer yesterday as the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass H.R. 5501, The Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act. The Act calls for $50 billion over five years for programs fighting global AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Global Action for Children (GAC), a nonpartisan advocacy coalition working to expand funding and improve policies to benefit orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) applauded the action, which will, if fully funded, channel approximately $700 million per year for the next five years directly to programs benefitting orphans and vulnerable children. This occurs through the reinsertion of an existing provision, established because of work by GAC, Congressional leaders and coalition partners, which mandates 10 percent of U.S. funding to fight AIDS be directed to programs supporting OVC.

"Members of the House of Representatives and their staff just did their part in restoring hope to millions of children whose lives and futures are being destroyed by the AIDS epidemic," noted Leila Nimatallah, Policy Director at GAC. "Programs such as PEPFAR help make sure children can stay in school, get the healthcare they need, and have enough food to eat. They also help protect vulnerable children from being conscripted into armed conflict or forced into slave labor or sex trafficking."

While an important step, the group cautioned, there are many more to be taken before this aid reaches those in need. The Senate must also take action and after both houses of Congress hammer out a final compromise, the bill must be signed into law by the President.

"There is still a long way to go before we can congratulate ourselves on making the world a little better," Nimatallah remarked. "Yet these are steps we must take. UNAIDS estimates that 20 million children will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010, and the United States cannot stand idly by while these children struggle, alone, to survive. While this bill is not perfect, reauthorizing the global AIDS, TB and malaria law at the $50 billion level over five years will go a long way to ensuring these children have a safety net."

"PEPFAR may not be a word people in the United States hear every day," Nimatallah continued. "But around the world, especially in Africa, it’s synonymous with ‘life-saving help.’ In a world torn apart by AIDS, it gives millions of children a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have, and that’s something we should all feel proud of."

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Global Action for Children is a nonpartisan, results-oriented coalition dedicated to advocating for orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world.

Read Global Action for Children’s "Platform for the World’s Children."

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