What:              The House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights 
                        and International Operations hearing on “Malaria and TB:  Implementing Proven
                        Treatment & Eradication Methods”

When:             2:00p.m., Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Where:            Room 2172 The Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Witnesses:     Mark Dybul, M.D., Assistant U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Chief

                        Medical Officer, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, U.S. Department
                        of State; Michael Miller, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global
                        Health, U.S. Agency for International Development; Youssou N’Dour,
                        Senegalese Jazz Musician, Goodwill Ambassador, Roll Back Malaria Partnership
                        William Moeller, President and CEO, American Biotech Labs; and
                        Paul Nunn, M.D., Coordinator, TB, HIV & Drug Resistance Unit, World Health Organization.

            Among the key witnesses scheduled to testify Tuesday is Youssou N’Dour, Senegalese Jazz Musician, Goodwill Ambassador, and with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership.  Youssou N’Dour has been called “Probably the best known African musician in the world today” by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Rolling Stone magazine has said “If any third world performer has a real shot at the sort of universal popularity enjoyed by Bob Marley, it's Youssou, a singer with a voice so extraordinary that the history of Africa seems locked inside it.”

            Millions in the developing world are being ravaged by killer diseases like malaria and tuberculosis (TB), in addition to HIV/AIDS.  One-third of the world is infected with the TB bacterium, and it is the leading cause of death for people with HIV/AIDS.  Africa in particular is currently experiencing a TB explosion due in large part to the AIDS pandemic.  Hospitals in the United States and around the world are seeing larger than ever numbers of antibiotic resistant strains of TB as more people are infected.  Similarly, Malaria is the primary killer of children and pregnant women in Africa, and one of the top killers in Asia and South America.  Every day about 3,000 children die from the disease worldwide.  Infection rates for malaria dwarf those of HIV/AIDS, and the vast majority of malaria patients are pregnant women and children living in poverty.  However, both diseases are preventable and curable.  A six-month course of anti-TB drugs costs only $12 and can produce cure rates of up to 95 percent even in the poorest countries. Malaria, likewise, is inexpensive and easy to treat, and can be controlled with proven successful methods combining anti-malarial drugs, bed nets, and use of small, environmentally safe amounts of insecticide in homes and buildings.  In FY 2005, the United States will provide $2.9 billion in bilateral and multilateral assistance to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.