A Firsthand Look at Battle Against AIDS

Five months after launching his campaign to help an AIDS-ravaged continent, President Bush on Friday came face to face with what he called “the deadliest enemy Africa has ever seen.”

During the president’s visit to Africa’s first and largest indigenous AIDS clinic and service organization, widely hailed around the world, few of the agency’s founders were around to bask in the international limelight.

Almost all of them are dead.

“You know, it’s one thing to hear about the ravages of AIDS, or to read about them, another thing to see them firsthand,” Bush said after touring the clinic and meeting with one of its founders and her current staff.

The president also met privately with two dozen AIDS patients.

In his public remarks, Bush lavishly praised Uganda’s efforts to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS. He pledged America’s help, saying: “I believe God has called us into action.”

Bush delivered his 15-minute speech in a small courtyard at the clinic. Afterward, he and First Lady Laura Bush were serenaded by a children’s choir, made up of orphans whose parents died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

When the children broke into a hauntingly serene rendition of “America the Beautiful,” the president bit his lip and seemed to fight back tears. Afterward, both he and the first lady appeared to brush away a tear.

The AIDS Support Organization, founded in 1987 by volunteers to support people with HIV or AIDS, now has seven centers in Uganda.

The organization provides counseling and basic medical services to 30,000 clients annually, including orphans, making it the largest nongovernmental AIDS program in Africa.

TASO also pioneered this country’s much copied “ABC” motto in stemming the spread of AIDS. The letters stand for Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms.

In part because of it, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection has dropped significantly -- a remarkable success story, officials said.

Only a decade ago, Uganda was viewed as the epicenter of the global AIDS pandemic. Today, it is recognized as the first country in Africa to document a decline in HIV prevalence -- by more than 50% since 1992, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has worked here on the disease since 1991.

“The results have been magnificent. Men and women are gaining years of life. More Ugandan children are growing up with mothers and fathers,” Bush said.

“And this country is reclaiming its future. Life by life, village by village, Uganda is showing that AIDS can be defeated across Africa,” he added. “This is such a land of hope in the heart of Africa.”

The president ends his five-day, five-nation tour of Africa today, attending several events in Abuja, Nigeria, before returning to Washington late tonight.

The overarching theme of Bush’s first trip to Africa as president has been to spotlight pockets of hope and progress on an otherwise deeply troubled continent.

This week, he visited Senegal, South Africa and Botswana. At most of his stops, Bush also talked up trade and economic growth.

But here in Uganda, an East African nation of nearly 25 million, he focused entirely on AIDS.

As he did at most other stops during his African visit, Bush touted his global anti-AIDS initiative, a five-year, $15-billion plan to help 14 of the hardest hit nations in Africa and the Caribbean.

Whether Congress will fully appropriate those funds, however, remains a question. On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee approved only $2 billion for next year, or $1 billion less than Bush had requested.

The global anti-AIDS initiative would provide further U.S. assistance to organizations such as TASO.