Help in the fight against AIDS in Africa

[JessicaAnn]

I am sure some of you are already signed up for the e-mail list from stopglobalaids.org and have seen this message already, but I just wanted to pass this along. It?s a simple thing you can do to show your support for those suffering from AIDS in Africa.

This isn?t an issue based on political affiliation, religion or race ? it?s a human issue. There are real people, just like you an me dying every day in Africa.

Please note, the e-mail makes mention of hitting ?reply? to send the message to George W. Bush. Instead, you can copy and paste the text into an e-mail and send it to president@whitehouse.gov

You are getting this message because President Bush and Secretary
O'Neill are making key decisions on global AIDS as they prepare for
the G7 meeting in Canada. Let's make sure Bush and O'Neill know we
are watching. Please join in our mass email action now by REPLYING to
this message and SENDING it -- the letter below will be automatically
emailed to President Bush on your behalf.

PLUS, PARTICIPATE WITH ACTIVISTS ACROSS THE USA IN NATIONAL CALL-IN
DAY TO SAY "DROP THE DEBT TO FIGHT AIDS" - sponsored by our Partner,
Jubilee USA Network

CHECK OUT THESE DETAILS ==> On June 12th and 13th people all across
the country who are concerned about the global AIDS crisis will call
the office of US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. Together we are
telling O'Neill to support debt cancellation for impoverished
countries at the G8 Finance Ministers Meeting this weekend in
Halifax, Canada. With everyone calling him he's bound to get the
message!

SO, LET'S MAKE HIS PHONE RING OFF THE HOOK! CALL: 202-622-0190

IT'S EASY AND WILL ONLY TAKE A MINUTE - YOU *DON'T* HAVE TO BE AN
EXPERT

Just tell the operator that you want to:

- Welcome Secretary O'Neill back from Africa and let him know that the
American people are behind him supporting debt cancellation for
impoverished countries to help them deal with AIDS and other crises.

- Ask him to use his influence at the G8 Finance Ministers meeting to
push for definitive debt cancellation without harmful World Bank and
IMF conditions.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:

Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Paul O'Neill just returned from a
highly publicized tour of four African nations with rock star, Bono.
He said in a speech last week that his tour of AIDS clinics, schools
and development projects in Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa
was the "the most intense 12 days I've ever experienced." Now, as he
gets ready for this important meeting in Canada we need to encourage
him to take the next step by supporting debt cancellation for all
impoverished countries.

Let's review the facts:

Average annual debt payments by countries that have begun to receive
some debt relief are being reduced by just 27 percent. That leaves
most of them still spending more repaying debts than they currently
spend on fighting AIDS and providing basic healthcare.

We could do so much more to lift the burden of debt and really help
people. Cameroon, Uganda, Malawi, and Guyana have all used partial
debt relief to help finance AIDS prevention and care programs, saving
lives and easing suffering.

----

This letter will be sent to President Bush when you hit the reply
button:

Dear President Bush:

I am concerned that your policies on global AIDS and international
debt do not go far enough to have a real impact. I urge you to use
the upcoming G7 Summit to make firm commitments to provide debt
cancellation to countries impacted by AIDS and other crises. And, I
urge you to provide the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
with the resources it needs to fight AIDS.

Mr. President, your proposals on debt relief have been inadequate,
and I urge you to go further. Over half of African countries continue
to spend more on servicing old debts than health care. Also, many
countries' debt relief has been held up until they comply with harsh
and counter-productive economic requirements from the World Bank and
IMF.

In addition, the Global Fund needs resources NOW to meet the
challenge of AIDS. The US should contribute at least $1.2 billion to
the Fund, NOW, to finance basic prevention, treatment and care.
Waiting to provide these resources until 2004, or focusing them too
narrowly on stopping mother-to-child transmission of the virus, is
simply not acceptable.

Your delay in taking forceful, meaningful action on these issues is
costing lives. It will undermine achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals and condemn millions to needless suffering and
death.

Please keep me informed of your deliberations on this urgent matter.

Encourage others to call for an end to the global AIDS crisis
by joining the Stop Global AIDS Action Network at
http://takeaction.stopglobalaids.org/join.asp
You can do even more than send an email -- drop us a line if you want
to get involved locally. Write to: localinfo@stopglobalaids.org
And, be sure to visit our Partner Groups at
http://www.stopglobalaids.com/partners/index.html

 

[Sherry Darling]

Thanks for posting this here, Jessica Anne!

For anyone who doesn't check EYKIW, here's a copy of the letter I sent O'Neill. Feel free to copy and paste if you'd like. All hands on deck! If you want, reply here and I'll put you on the Bono's Angels website.



Mr. Paul O?Neill
United States Treasury Secretary
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

June 2, 2002


Dear Secretary O?Neill:

I am writing to express my congratulations and gratitude for the time you recently took to travel through rural Africa to learn more about what can be done to help. Your focus on providing clean water, for example, impressed me. I was excited to hear you describe that task as ?possible? and then express that it would be ?unforgivable? that 40 million Ethiopians go without it! I could not agree more!

As a citizen of a powerful and prosperous country, I believe it is crucial to do all I can do to help. It?s my hope that our aid to the world?s poorest nations will be increased, that their debt will be dropped and that trade laws will change to ensure a fair market.

Again, congratulations and welcome home! I wish you the best of luck as you continue the fight!

Sincerely,


Cheryl

(edited to actually add letter...duh )

 

[Lilly]

hey, this is really cool. i hope all of the viewers of this thread also sent a letter. every little bit helps right now.

the easiest thing we can do to prevent the spread of aids is to either abstain from sex, or use a condom EVERY TIME. seriously, one or the other folks.

unfortunately from a biological perspective it is getting harder and harder to develop any type of "cure" or treatment for aids. it keeps morphing into different strands, much like a flu. where every winter the flu comes around three times, but each time it's stronger and changed just enough that it can get past your autoimmune system. aids works backwards. rather than its germs scanning your cell's dna and making complimentary dna to match it, it goes backwards along your dna to make rna thus making proteins that your body really can't deal with that stifles your responses and ends up killing a lot of cells inside of you and i'm going to stop now cos it probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to everyone.

again, it's not aids that kills people. it's colds and pnemonia. and that's what doctors are going for right now. they're trying to figure out ways to strengthen the immune system, make more t-cells and whatnot in order to prolong the innevitability that right now comes with aids.

i have (and had) a few friends with aids. let me tell you it's the most hear wrenching thing to see them waste away. i watched my friend sniffle and cough and realized that something that i could walk around with and be just fine was going to kill him at any second. i still have problems comprehending it.

as far as africa is concerned...i hope none of you ever encounter children who get aids through birth. i have volunteered at camp heartland (a camp in northern minnesota that is for kids with hiv/aids) and fell in love with kids as young as 5 dealing with this shit. and 5 is pretty much middle age for them. the importance of getting proper meds over there is so great, especially right now.

i urge you all to get a little more involved with this than just writing one letter. make your friends write them, make your neighbors write them and so on. every 15 letters a senator receives they equate with about a hundered people's voices.

 

[Sherry Darling]

Lilly,

Thanks for your post. If you sent a letter, I'm happy to add you to Bono's Angels! Great thoughts!

SD

 

[Lilly]

no problem, just trying to get more people to help!

 

[Sherry Darling]

no problem, just trying to get more people to help!

Amen and amen! Esp after the recent REDUCTION of aid proposed in the newest bill, we need all the letters and phone calls we can get!

SD

 

[verte76]

There was a report on global AIDS in the Boston Globe today. The report claims that the number of people in the world with AIDS is going to double in the next five years. Damn! Think about it.... five years really is not a long time. The infections are proliferating like crazy. We've got to do what we can to stop this pandemic or it will end up wiping out half the human race. Africa is the hardest hit, but other nightmare scenarios are developing in India, China and Thailand is already a veritable AIDS Hell.
Egads, this is scary.

 

[Sherry Darling]

There was a report on global AIDS in the Boston Globe today. The report claims that the number of people in the world with AIDS is going to double in the next five years. Damn! Think about it.... five years really is not a long time. The infections are proliferating like crazy. We've got to do what we can to stop this pandemic or it will end up wiping out half the human race. Africa is the hardest hit, but other nightmare scenarios are developing in India, China and Thailand is already a veritable AIDS Hell.
Egads, this is scary.

Yes it is. I'm planning to write my Senators, and Prez. Bush today. I'd invite and encourage everyone at Interference who cares about this issue to do the same. Check out the link in my sig for how to help!

SD