AMBASSADOR'S SPEECHES

Speech by Ambassador Aubrey Hooks to the Partners Meeting of PEPFAR

Ambassador Hooks speaks to PEPFAR partners in Yamoussoukro (Photo: Brett Bruen/US Embassy)

Madame the Minister of AIDS, your presence here today is an example of your bold leadership and continued commitment to strengthening partnerships in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  Monsieur the Prefect and local leaders, your strong leadership in Yamoussoukro and the surrounding region has been an example to the nation of what committed individuals and leaders can accomplish working together.   Representatives of UNICEF and the World Health Organization, distinguished guests and valued partners, you and your organizations have been unwavering in your work to stem the tide of this disease in Cote d’Ivoire.  When the United States announced last week its budget for PEPFAR for 2005, there was a great deal of attention paid in the media to the unprecedented amount of financing that we were dedicating to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Cote d’Ivoire.  However, we stressed then and I reiterate to you today, that the success or failure of this initiative will depend not on the amount of money we spend, but rather on the effectiveness of our cooperation with you.  You are the experts in your fields, from treatment and care to the prevention of the spread of this horrible disease.  We are here to strengthen your capacity by bringing to bear the resources that you require to win the battle against HIV/AIDS. 

PEPFAR is a historic five year, fifteen billion dollar program to combat HIV/AIDS around the world, with targeted efforts in fifteen of the worst affected countries, including Cote d’Ivoire.  As part of this program, the United States has provided 33% of the financing for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.  Together these historic pledges represent the largest effort ever by any nation against any disease.  In Cote d'Ivoire, PEPFAR will contribute to the prevention of 265,000 new HIV/AIDS infections, while treating 77,000 Ivorians who have already been infected with the disease, and providing care for 385,000 orphans and vulnerable children who have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.  Globally, the program seeks to prevent seven million new infections, while treating two million people infected with HIV/AIDS, and offering care to ten million orphans and vulnerable children.

We have brought you together today to strengthen the ties of that cooperation and coordination.  We are here today to form a strong front in the fight against HIV/AIDS,  It is with this close cooperation that we will be able to take successes that you have achieved locally and expand them to help all Ivorians.  With this coordination we can ensure that all of those working in the field have the most up to date information and best practices for treating this disease.  With our collective efforts we can reach each and every home in Cote d’Ivoire with appropriate adapted prevention messages including Abstinence for young people, Fidelity for couples with knowledge of their HIV status through HIV testing and consistent effective use of Condoms for targeted populations, to prevent the spread of this disease and protect tomorrow’s generation.

I can see within this room the power and the purpose to heal a nation.  From your minds and your hands will come a more hopeful future for Cote d’Ivoire.  It will be a future where HIV/AIDS no longer looms over the horizon, taking parents and smiles from children.  It is a future in which Cote d’Ivoire has the capacity to provide world-class medical care to those infected with HIV/AIDS, while effectively educating a new generation about the risks of contracting HIV/AIDS.

You know all too well that this is a battle that will not be won in days, weeks, or months.  But I stand before you together with the Minister of AIDS, local leaders and our UN partners to assure you that the United States is committed to this struggle with you.  This is not your struggle alone.  This is not a burden you must bear by yourselves.  We are here because this devastating disease knows no limits of countries or colors, of class or creed.  We are all in this fight together. 

With your help, this disease will no longer be the symbol of pain and suffering, but rather it will be remembered as a rallying cry for mobilization. The moment when this nation joined with one voice and said, “we shall overcome”.  Let word go forth from this time and place that we will not lie down in the face of difficulty, instead it will raise up within each of us the courage and passion to bring for ourselves and our communities a better and brighter future.  With this faith in hand, I look forward to taking my place alongside you in the trenches of this conflict as we join together to build a new tomorrow for this country.  Thank you.