SCHAKOWSKY VOICES SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL AIDS ALLIANCE. NEW ORGANIZATION TO BATTLE ON BEHALF OF THE WORLDS HIV/AIDS POPULATION

NEW ORGANIZATION TO BATTLE ON BEHALF OF THE WORLD'S HIV/AIDS POPULATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today joined Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jubilee 2000, and others to lend their support to the launch of Global-AIDS-Alliance (GAA). GAA will design and implement an aggressive worldwide campaign to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. GAA is comprised of a coalition of AIDS advocacy organizations, public health experts, Jubilee 2000, elected officials, religious and civil rights leaders and others.

Schakowsky, who has played an active role in Congress to promote fair U.S. trade and monetary policies to help address the HIV/AIDS crisis, delivered the following statement today during a Capitol Hill news conference.

"I am proud to be here with many of the leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and to lend my support to the launch of the Global Aids Alliance. This is an important step in the struggle to raise awareness and combat the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and throughout the world. This unique alliance brings together U.S. and international AIDS advocacy, public health, and debt relief organizations, Congressional leaders, religious leaders, and other committed citizens.

"The Global AIDS Alliance will unite us in our struggle to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. Together, we will work to increase funding for crucial programs and to expand the availability and affordability of life-saving medications. And we will continue to work, with the help of Jubilee 2000, to accelerate multilateral debt relief efforts for developing countries that are struggling to cope with the lethal combination of high AIDS rates and extreme poverty.

"With a broad pool of committed and motivated groups and individuals, we have an even greater ability to get out our message. We are facing a worldwide pandemic that has the potential of eclipsing all plagues of the past, all wars, can destabilize nations and continents and the world. The time is now to attack this pandemic with all of the resources we have available.

"We need action in the Congress on legislative proposals that we have worked together to craft, we need action from the White House and from our President, we need public support for this effort; we need action in the international community and for our allies to join us in this effort; and we need the pharmaceutical industry to stop the practice of placing profits and patents and intellectual property rights before human lives. This is a time in history that requires the people of the world to develop the strategies that will end this threat.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Global AID Alliance to further the worthy goals of this coalition."