text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Humanitarian Assistance to Combat 
  HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean and National Security 
  Act of 2003''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
       Congress makes the following findings:
              (1) The National Security Strategy of the United States, 
          dated September 17, 2002, states: ``[I]n Africa, promise and 
          opportunity sit side-by-side with disease, war and desperate 
          poverty. This threatens both a core value of the United States 
          preserving human dignity and our strategic priority combating 
          global terror. American interests and American principles, 
          therefore, lead in the same direction: we will work with others 
          for an African continent that lives in liberty, peace, and 
          growing prosperity.''.
              (2) On March 19, 2002, the Director of Central Intelligence 
          testified before Congress that ``[T]he chronic problems of sub-
          Saharan Africa make it, too, fertile ground for direct and 
          indirect threats to United States interests. Governments 
          without accountability and natural disasters have left Africa 
          with the highest concentration of human misery in the world.''.
              (3) Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected 
          by HIV/AIDS than any other part of the world. In fact, AIDS has 
          surpassed malaria as the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan 
          Africa, and it kills many times more people than Africa's armed 
          conflicts.
              (4) Africa, where an estimated 3,500,000 people were newly 
          infected with HIV in 2002, has approximately 10 percent of the 
          world's population but more than 70 percent of the worldwide 
          total of people infected with HIV.
              (5) In November 2002, the Joint United Nations Programme on 
          HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported that in 2002, 29,400,000 people were 
          living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, an increase from 
          28,500,000 people in 2001.
              (6) At the end of 2001, an estimated 21,500,000 Africans 
          had lost their lives to AIDS, including an estimated 2,200,000 
          individuals who died in that year. UNAIDS estimates that by 
          2020, an additional 55,000,000 Africans will lose their lives 
          to the epidemic.
              (7) The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is having a much 
          greater impact on children than is the case in other parts of 
          the world.
              (8) According to UNAIDS, more than 600,000 African infants 
          become infected with HIV each year through mother-to-child 
          transmission, either at birth or through breast-feeding. These 
          children have short life expectancies, and the number currently 
          alive may be about 1,000,000 children.
              (9) In 2001, an estimated 11,000,000 children who became 
          orphans by AIDS were living in Africa.
              (10) Because of the stigma attached to AIDS, children who 
          become orphans by AIDS are at high risk for being malnourished, 
          abused, and denied an education.
              (11) According to UNAIDS, women make up an estimated 58 
          percent of the HIV-positive adult population in sub-Saharan 
          Africa, as compared to 50 percent of the HIV-positive adult 
          population worldwide.
              (12) Young women are particularly at risk. In 2001, an 
          estimated 6 to 11 percent of African women aged 15 to 24 were 
          HIV-positive, compared to 3 to 6 percent of young men.
              (13)(A) The HIV-infection rate among adults is 
          approximately 8.8 percent in Africa, compared with 1.2 percent 
          worldwide. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is a 
          major component of this African crisis.
              (B) In 7 sub-Saharan African countries, 20 percent or more 
          of the adult population is infected with HIV, and the rate has 
          reached 38.8 percent in Botswana.
              (C) Moreover, in Cameroon, a West African country, the 
          adult HIV-infection rate has increased from 4.7 percent in 1996 
          to 11.8 percent in 2001.
              (D) In Nigeria, with a population that exceeds 125,000,000, 
          an estimated 5.8 percent of adults were HIV-positive in 2001, 
          and infection rates in some areas of Nigeria have reached 
          levels seen in neighboring Cameroon.
              (14) Nongovernmental organizations working in Africa, donor 
          governments, and African governments have responded to the HIV/
          AIDS epidemic primarily by attempting to reduce the number of 
          new HIV infections, and to some degree, by trying to ameliorate 
          the damage done by AIDS to families, societies, and economies.
              (15)(A) A 1999 United Nations study found that community-
          based organizations, sometimes with the support of 
          nongovernmental organizations, have emerged to supply 
          additional labor, home care for the sick, house repair, and 
          other services to AIDS-afflicted families.
              (B) Programs and projects aimed at combating the epidemic 
          typically provide information on how HIV is spread, and on how 
          it can be avoided, through the media, posters, lectures, and 
          skits. AIDS awareness programs can be found in many African 
          schools and increasingly in the workplace, where employers are 
          recognizing their interest in reducing the HIV-infection rate 
          among their employees.
              (16) Public-private partnerships have also become an 
          important vehicle for responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in 
          Africa.
              (17)(A) The United States Agency for International 
          Development estimates that in fiscal year 2000, all donors and 
          lending agencies, together with African governments, spent 
          approximately $500,000,000 in combating HIV/AIDS, but donors 
          have committed to increasing this amount.
              (B) On July 23, 2000, leaders at the G-8 world economic 
          summit in Okinawa, Japan, pledged to reduce the number of young 
          people infected with the HIV virus by 25 percent.
              (18) The World Health Organization estimates that a pledge 
          by the G-8 countries to combat malaria and tuberculosis, and 
          reduce the HIV virus in Africa by 25 percent, would cost at 
          least $5,000,000,000 per year for 5 years. The World Bank 
          launched its Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP) for Africa in 
          September 2000, and a World Bank official said in October 2002 
          that to date, $1,000,000,000 had been committed.
              (19) On December 9, 2001, Peter Piot, Executive Director of 
          UNAIDS, told an international AIDS conference in Burkina Faso 
          that assistance to fight HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa should 
          be increased ``many-fold'', and that the region requires 
          $5,000,000,000 per year to confront the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
              (20) While the AIDS epidemic in Caribbean countries does 
          not compare to the severity of the epidemic in Africa, there 
          are an estimated 420,000 people living with AIDS in Caribbean 
          countries. Moreover, the HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate in 
          several countries in the Caribbean is among the highest outside 
          of sub-Saharan Africa.
              (21) Caribbean countries with the highest prevalence of HIV 
          infection rates are Haiti and the Bahamas, with adult HIV 
          infection rates at more than 4 percent. Overall, an estimated 1 
          out of 50 people in Caribbean countries is infected with HIV. 
          Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a combined 340,000 
          adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, account for 
          approximately 87 percent of the infected population of 
          Caribbean countries. As noted by the United States Agency for 
          International Development, Haiti's poverty, civil conflict, and 
          unstable governance have contributed to the rapid spread of 
          AIDS. In some urban areas of Haiti, HIV infection rates are at 
          more than 10 percent of the population.
              (22) In Caribbean countries, access to treatment and care 
          is non-existent for many infected with HIV. Nevertheless, many 
          projects demonstrate that even in severely impoverished 
          countries with little health infrastructure, there can be 
          sustained treatment for people with HIV/AIDS.
  
  SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
  
       It is the sense of Congress that--
              (1) effectively addressing the HIV/AIDS problem in 
          countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean is a moral 
          issue of the greatest magnitude and is in the national security 
          interest of the United States; and
              (2) the President should enter into direct talks with the 
          governments of other member countries of the G-8 and member 
          countries of the European Union to increase the amount of 
          financial support to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-
          Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.
  
  SEC. 4. GRANTS TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND CARIBBEAN 
                COUNTRIES.
  
       The Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
  Development is authorized to award grants to nongovernmental 
  organizations for the prevention, treatment, and control of HIV/AIDS in 
  countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Caribbean countries, including by 
  expanding activities to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV 
  by providing treatment, medical care, and support services to HIV-
  infected parents and their children. In carrying out the preceding 
  sentence, it is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health and 
  Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 
  Control and Prevention, should provide appropriate medical and 
  technical expertise to the Administrator and recipient governments.
  
  SEC. 5. APPOINTMENT OF HEALTH OFFICERS TO UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN 
                SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN.
  
      The Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Health 
  and Human Services, is authorized to appoint to the country team in 
  each United States embassy in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean a 
  health officer to advise the United States Ambassador and assist in 
  coordination of the effort to combat HIV/AIDS with local governments.
  
  SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
  
      (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
  out this Act $500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2004 through 
  2008.
      (b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
  authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized to 
  remain available until expended.
  
  SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
  
       In this Act:
              (1) AIDS.--The term ``AIDS'' means acquired immune 
          deficiency syndrome.
              (2) Caribbean countries.--The term ``Caribbean countries'' 
          means the countries described in section 212(b) of the 
          Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2702(b)).
              (3) HIV.--The term ``HIV'' means the human immunodeficiency 
          virus, the pathogen that causes AIDS.
      (4) HIV/AIDS.--The term ``HIV/AIDS'' means, with respect to an 
  individual, an individual who is infected with HIV or living with AIDS.
              (5) Countries in sub-saharan africa.--The term ``countries 
          in sub-Saharan Africa'' has the meaning given such term in 
          section 107 of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 
          U.S.C. 3706).
target: Humanitarian Assistance to Combat HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean and National Security Act of 2003 - Declares the sense of Congress that: (1) effectively addressing the HIV/AIDS problem in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean is a moral issue of the greatest magnitude and is in the national security interest of the United States; and (2) the President should enter into direct talks with the governments of other member countries of the G-8 and member countries of the European Union to increase the amount of financial support to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.
  
  Authorizes the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to award grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for the prevention, treatment, and control of HIV/AIDS in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Caribbean countries, including treatment, medical care, and support services to HIV-infected parents and their children. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should provide appropriate medical and technical expertise to the Administrator and recipient governments.
  
  Authorizes the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of HHS, to appoint to the country team in each U.S. embassy in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean a health officer to advise the U.S. Ambassador and assist in coordination of the effort to combat HIV/AIDS with local governments.
feat_title: To authorize assistance to combat the growing HIV/AIDS problem in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.