article: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Global AIDS Research and Relief Act of 2001''. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) AIDS.--The term ``AIDS'' means the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. (2) Association.--The term ``Association'' means the International Development Association. (3) Bank.--The term ``Bank'' or ``World Bank'' means the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (4) HIV.--The term ``HIV'' means the human immunodeficiency virus, the pathogen, which causes AIDS. (5) HIV/AIDS.--The term ``HIV/AIDS'' means, with respect to an individual, an individual who is infected with HIV or living with AIDS. SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to the Surgeon General of the United States, the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) will soon become the worst epidemic of infectious disease in recorded history, eclipsing both the bubonic plague of the 1300s and the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 which killed more than 20,000,000 people worldwide. (2) According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS), more than 36,100,000 people in the world today are living with HIV/AIDS, of which approximately 95 percent live in the developing world. (3) UNAIDS data shows that among children age 15 and under worldwide, more than 4,300,000 have died from AIDS, more than 1,400,000 are living with the disease; and in 1 year alone-- 2000--an estimated 600,000 became infected, of which over 90 percent were babies born to HIV-positive women. (4) Although sub-Saharan Africa has only 10 percent of the world's population, it is home to more than 25,300,000--roughly 70 percent--of the world's HIV/AIDS cases. (5) Worldwide, there have already been an estimated 21,800,000 deaths because of HIV/AIDS, of which more than 80 percent occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. (6) According to UNAIDS, by the end of 1999, 13,200,000 children have lost at least one parent to AIDS, including 12,100,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa, and are thus considered AIDS orphans. (7) At current infection and growth rates for HIV/AIDS, the National Intelligence Council estimates that the number of AIDS orphans worldwide will increase dramatically, potentially increasing threefold or more in the next 10 years, contributing to economic decay, social fragmentation, and political destabilization in already volatile and strained societies. Children without care or hope are often drawn into prostitution, crime, substance abuse, or child soldiery. (8) The discovery of a relatively simple and inexpensive means of interrupting the transmission of HIV from an infected mother to the unborn child--namely with nevirapine (NVP), which costs $4 a tablet--has created a great opportunity for an unprecedented partnership between the United States Government and the governments of Asian, African, and Latin American countries to reduce mother-to-child transmission (also known as ``vertical transmission'') of HIV. (9) According to UNAIDS, if implemented this strategy will decrease the proportion of orphans that are HIV-infected and decrease infant and child mortality rates in these developing regions. (10) A mother-to-child antiretroviral drug strategy can be a force for social change, providing the opportunity and impetus needed to address often longstanding problems of inadequate services and the profound stigma associated with HIV-infection and the AIDS disease. Strengthening the health infrastructure to improve mother-and-child health, antenatal, delivery, and postnatal services, and couples counseling generates enormous spillover effects toward combating the AIDS epidemic in developing regions. (11) 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. (12) The HIV/AIDS epidemic is of increasing concern in other regions of the world, with UNAIDS estimating that there are more than 5,800,000 cases in South and Southeast 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. (13) Russia is the new ``hot spot'' for the pandemic and more Russians are expected to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2001 than all cases from previous years combined. (14) 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. (15) 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 Act 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. SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE AUTHORITIES TO COMBAT HIV AND AIDS. Paragraphs (4) through (6) of section 104(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(c)) are amended to read as follows: ``(4)(A) Congress recognizes the growing international dilemma of children with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the merits of intervention 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. ``(B) The agency primarily responsible for administering this part shall-- ``(i) coordinate with UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO, national and local governments, other organizations, and other Federal agencies to develop and implement effective strategies to prevent vertical transmission of HIV; and ``(ii) coordinate with those organizations to increase intervention programs and introduce voluntary counseling and testing, antiretroviral drugs, replacement feeding, and other strategies. ``(5)(A) Congress expects the agency primarily responsible for administering this part to make the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) a priority in the foreign assistance program and to undertake a comprehensive, coordinated effort to combat HIV and AIDS. ``(B) Assistance described in subparagraph (A) shall include help providing-- ``(i) primary prevention and education; ``(ii) voluntary testing and counseling; ``(iii) medications to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child; ``(iv) programs to strengthen and broaden health care systems infrastructure and the capacity of health care systems in developing countries to deliver HIV/ AIDS pharmaceuticals, prevention, and treatment to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS; and ``(v) care for those living with HIV or AIDS. ``(6)(A) In addition to amounts otherwise available for such purpose, there is authorized to be appropriated to the President $600,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2002 and 2003 to carry out paragraphs (4) and (5). ``(B) Of the funds authorized to be appropriated under subparagraph (A), not less than 65 percent is authorized to be available through United States and foreign nongovernmental organizations, including private and voluntary organizations, for-profit organizations, religious affiliated organizations, educational institutions, and research facilities. ``(C)(i) Of the funds authorized to be appropriated by subparagraph (A), priority should be given to programs that address the support and education of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, including AIDS orphans and prevention strategies for vertical transmission referred to in paragraph (4)(A). ``(ii) Assistance made available under this subsection, and assistance made available under chapter 4 of part II to carry out the purposes of this subsection, may be made available notwithstanding any other provision of law that restricts assistance to foreign countries. ``(D) Of the funds authorized to be appropriated by subparagraph (A), not more than 7 percent may be used for the administrative expenses of the agency primarily responsible for carrying out this part of this Act in support of activities described in paragraphs (4) and (5). ``(E) Funds appropriated under this paragraph are authorized to remain available until expended.''.
summary: Global AIDS Research and Relief Act of 2001 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise requirements for assistance for health programs in developing countries to require the agency primarily responsible for administering this Act to coordinate with specified organizations, including other Federal agencies, to develop and implement effective strategies to prevent vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to increase intervention programs and introduce voluntary counseling and testing, antiretroviral drugs, replacement feeding, and other strategies. Urges such agency to: (1) make HIV and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) a priority in the foreign assistance program for developing foreign countries; and (2) undertake a comprehensive, coordinated effort to combat HIV and AIDS, including providing programs to strengthen and broaden health care systems infrastructure and capacity to deliver HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals, prevention, and treatment to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.Authorizes appropriations. Urges that priority be given to programs that address the support and education of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, including AIDS orphans, and prevention strategies for vertical transmission of HIV.