LETTER: Bush should fight AIDS

Editor,

I am pleased to hear President Bush has planned to allocate $15 billion to combat the horrors of AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. But I am disheartened that over the last two fiscal years the president has proposed cuts for child survival programs.

More than 10.6 million children die each year from preventable diseases. These lives could be preserved by providing children with vaccine packages at the cost of $30 per child. If Congress allocated $100 million to child survival, we could purchase three million vaccine packages.

This would save lives and increase economic productivity in the poorest countries. Fighting AIDS and increasing child survival go hand in hand. Our elected officials should increase funding to child survival programs by $100 million.

I want to see the United States fulfill its moral obligation to less fortunate people. Students can write their congressional representatives telling them that they would like to see more funding going to support child survival programs.

Theresa Foxley