Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 1.djvu/787

 PUBLIC LAW 106-264—AUG. 19, 2000 114 STAT. 751, age in many of the countries without a high prevalence of AIDS. (15) A January 2000 United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report on the global infectious disease threat concluded that the economic costs of infectious diseases—especially HIV/AIDS—are already significant and could reduce GDP by as much as 20 percent or more by 2010 in some sub- Saharan African nations. (16) According to the same NIE report, HIV prevalence among militias in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are estimated at 40 to 60 percent, and at 15 to 30 percent in Tanzania. (17) The HIV/AIDS epidemic is of increasing concern in other regions of the world, with UNAIDS estimating that there are more than 5,600,000 cases in South and South-east Asia, that the rate of HIV infection in the Caribbean is second only to sub-Saharan Africa, and that HIV infections have doubled in just 2 years in the former Soviet Union. (18) Despite the discouraging statistics on the spread of HIV/AIDS, some developing nations—such as Uganda, Senegal, and Thailand—have implemented prevention programs that have substantially curbed the rate of HIV infection. (19) AIDS, like all diseases, knows no national boundaries, and there is no certitude that the scale of the problem in one continent can be contained within that region. (20) Accordingly, United States financial support for medical research, education, and disease containment as a global strategy has beneficial ramifications for millions of Americans and their families who are affected by this disease, and the entire population which is potentially susceptible. (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this title are to— (1) help prevent human suffering through the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV/AIDS; and (2) help ensure the viability of economic development, stability, and national security in the developing world by advancing research to— (A) understand the causes associated with HIV/AIDS in developing countries; and (B) assist in the development of an AIDS vaccine. Subtitle A—United States Assistance SEC. 111. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE AUTHORITIES TO COMBAT HIV AND AIDS. (a) ASSISTANCE FOR PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDS AND VERTICAL children and TRANSMISSION.— Section 104(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of youth. 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: "(4)(A) Congress recognizes the growing international dilemma of children with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the meffectivervention programs aimed at this problem. Congress further recognizes that mother-to-child transmission prevention strategies can serve as a major force for change in developing regions, and it is, therefore, a major objective of the foreign assistance program to control the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic.

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