U nited States President George
W. Bush will visit Africa during
the month of February 2008. The
President will be accompanied by
his wife, Laura. The visit will take
President Bush to five African
countries that include Benin,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and
Liberia.
The trip will be an opportunity for the President
to review firsthand the significant progress
since his last visit on the continent in 2003 in
efforts to increase economic development and
fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable
diseases, as a result of the United States robust
programs in these areas.
President Bush will also discuss with African
leaders about how the United States can help
promote democratic reform, the respect for
human rights, free trade, open investment
regimes and economic opportunity across the
continent.
During President Bush’s January 2008 state of
the union address he urged Congress to double
U.S money for the fight against HIV/AIDS, to
$30 billion over the next five years. The money
would provide treatment for 2.5 million people,
according to the Associated Press.
Before 1983 Liberia was a HIV/AIDS free
nation. Since then the HIV/AIDS epidemic is
one of the leading causes of Liberian death. By
the year 1994 according to the U.S Agency for
International Development (USAID) at least
50,000 Liberians are infected with AIDS.
The spread of the epidemic can partly be
attributed to the long lasting civil war. The
influx of foreigners and peace keeping forces
especially those from countries with high HIV/
AIDS infections, the displacement of Liberians,
and the prostitution of Liberian women as a
means to survive, significantly contributed to
the widespread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Joyce Puta, a Zambian army colonel formerly
working with the United Nations Mission in
Liberia
(UNMIL) points
out
that
any
environment requiring peace keepers is also a
risky one for the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Since 2003 about 100,000 Liberians are living
with HIV/AIDS. In the year