Diary Prequel Package — page 5

Record Type: Record To: Gary R. Edson/NSC/EOP cc: terrell.halaska@hhs.gov Subject: my hhs dial-up e-mail is down tonight. i wanted to send you a slightly modified version after receiving additional comments from dr. fauci. i am sending in the body of the e-mail because i am not certain the attachment will go through. let me know if you have any questions or need me to do anything else. thanks, steiger Draft Privileged and Confidential For Official Use Only Infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, are ravaging developing nations, causing 25 percent of all deaths worldwide and eroding recent gains in economic growth, education, and life expectancy. Tuberculosis accounted for 1.7 million deaths last year, while malaria killed more than one million, mostly children in Africa. At the same time, the spread of HIV/AIDS is triggering a crisis in international public health, the full scope of which we are only beginning to recognize. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 36 million people are now living with HIV or AIDS, 70 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is now the leading cause of death. Nearly 60 million people have become infected with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1970's and over 22 million of them have already died from AIDS. The U.S. has been the leader in research and assistance to battle these diseases, and the President?s recent proposed budget increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reaffirms that commitment. NIH spent an estimated $90 million on international HIV/AIDS research in FY 2000, a number that is expected to rise to $130 million by the end of FY 2001. The U.S. is the