ELCA Bishops Urge House to Pass AIDS Bill
APRIL 4, 2008
Dear Representative:
We write as religious leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) with a special concern and passion
for the well being of our brothers and sisters throughout
the world. We serve on the International Policy Committee,
which is part of the ELCA Conference of Bishops that
includes 65 synodical leaders in all geographic regions of
the country, accountable to 5 million Lutherans in the
United States. All 65 ELCA synods have a companion
relationship with at least one Lutheran Church in another
country, many of whom are severely affected by the AIDS
pandemic that continues to claim more than 2 million lives
every year.
We urge you to support a robust, bi-partisan U.S. Global
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2008 as it comes
to the House floor for consideration. This bill presents a
critical opportunity for the U.S. Congress to transition
current emergency-focused AIDS programming into a
sustainable, integrated effort to save lives, restore hope
and build true security in many of the poorest countries in
the world.
We applaud the U.S. Government’s historic and bold
commitment, announced by President Bush in 2003, to fighting
HIV and AIDS. The $15 billion dollar commitment over five
years has produced impressive results: more than 1.4 million
lives saved, care provided for more than 6.6 million persons
infected or affected by HIV/AIDS including 2.7 million
orphans and vulnerable children, and counseling and testing
provided for more than 33 million, including 10 million
pregnant women.
We have witnessed the meaning of these statistics in the
lives of our partners in other countries: individuals
rejoice for a second chance at life because AIDS is no
longer a death sentence, children orphaned or otherwise
vulnerable look forward to the opportunities of tomorrow,
and communities once devastated by the pandemic celebrate
the promise of a brighter future. Still, with at least 16
million additional persons in need of treatment by 2013,
more than 15 million children orphaned by AIDS in
sub-Saharan Africa alone, and more than 2.5 million new
infections per year, the need for enhanced U.S. leadership
is great.
We applaud efforts of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
to ensure that this critical legislation makes historic
improvements to the U.S. Government’s current commitment to
fight AIDS in the world, while maintaining strong
bi-partisan support.
We support passage of the 2008 U.S. Global HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act that includes targets for
prevention, treatment and care that fulfill the U.S.
commitment to the achievement of universal access by 2010,
as President Bush committed at the G8 summit in 2005. In
order to meet such targets and sustain them, we know a
greater emphasis on strengthening health systems and
training health care workers in the hardest hit countries is
essential. Specifically, we urge Congress to ensure that the
2008 U.S. Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act
supports pre-service training and retention for at least
140,000 new primary care doctors and nurses.
The equitable U.S. share of the escalated effort needed to
achieve universal access, including an enhanced focus on
health systems, would require an authorization level of at
least $50 billion over five years. Such a financial
commitment is not only consistent with our nation’s deeply
held moral values and humanitarian generosity; it also
represents an investment in the security and safety of our
world through the strengthening of vulnerable communities.
Finally, we share a special concern for the millions of
orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who have been infected
or affected by the AIDS pandemic. Many of our partners in
Africa historically have depended upon their extended family
structure to absorb orphaned children. The sheer number of
children in need today has made this impossible and is the
cause of increasing community tension and strain. We support
the ten percent funding designation dedicated to OVC,
believe all children in severely affected communities should
be considered vulnerable, and urge Congress to allow a
portion of the ten percent designation to be used for
administrative purposes to enhance and improve the work of a
full-time OVC special advisor.
As religious leaders, we look to you as Members of
Congress representing the people of our great country to
pass a strong bi-partisan bill to ensure that this critical
program continues to bring life to millions of individuals
and brighter futures for thousands of communities throughout
the world.
For more information, please contact Kimberly Stietz at
kim.stietz@elca.org or 202.626.7942.
With thanks and prayers for your work and service on behalf
of the American people.
Sincerely,
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