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First lady Laura Bush on Monday is scheduled to leave on her third visit to Africa in an effort to highlight programs funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief as well as the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Washington Post reports. Bush will visit Mali, Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia during the five-day trip. The trip “should show U.S. taxpayers the president’s support of pressing humanitarian causes,” Bush stated for the duration of a recent CNN interview, adding, “We want the American folks to know, because it is their taxpayer money that’s performing it.” She also said that the HIV/AIDS pandemic does “seem like an insurmountable issue, but the fact is, you’ll be able to measure progress because you’ll be able to see how several people truly get therapy.” Based on Bush, mother-to-child HIV transmission has been all but eliminated within the U.S. — an achievement that can be replicated elsewhere (Fletcher, Washington Post, 6/25).

Bush throughout the trip also will deliver 5 scholarships to girls in Senegal to mark the launch of a program that may offer 555,000 scholarships to elementary schools within the region by 2010, the Chicago Tribune reports. “You have to give [the Bush] administration a lot of credit on Africa,” Princeton Lyman — senior fellow for Africa studies in the Council on Foreign Relations, a former ambassador to various African countries and former senior State Department official — stated. He added, “The AIDS commitment is rather extraordinary, and there is no question that it has galvanized resources much more than anything before it.” Tom Hart, director of governmental relations for DATA, stated that the president “deserves credit for helping break a political mold within the U.S. response to AIDS,” adding, “The disease is nonetheless outpacing us, but there is a political sea change in Washington in attitudes toward Africa. This president has definitely contributed to that.”

Some advocates say that money for education programs — especially in a region where education and preventing mother-to-child transmission are vital to HIV/AIDS efforts aimed at the next generation — is inadequate, the Tribune reports. “The scholarships have certainly helped some girls,” Gene Sperling, director with the Center for Universal Education, said, adding, “But there is really little sense inside the world that the U.S. has helped any African nation take a big step forward on education” (Silva, Chicago Tribune, 6/25).

NPR’s “All Points Considered” on Friday included a discussion with Bush about PEPFAR and her trip to Africa (Norris, “All Issues Considered,” NPR, 6/22). Audio as well as a partial transcript with the segment are obtainable on-line. In addition, PRI’s “The World” on Friday included a discussion with Paul Zeitz, executive director with the Global AIDS Alliance, about funding for HIV/AIDS programs in Africa below the Bush administration (Werman, “The World,” PRI, 6/22). Audio with the segment is offered on-line.

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