PEPFAR Music CD Launch

Remarks by Ambassador Roger A. Meece
Thursday, 14 December, 2006, 15:00 p.m.

Every day around the world 8000 men, women and children die of AIDS.  Four percent, or 335 of them are in this country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Every day, 14,000 more men, women and children are infected with the HIV virus; 2.5 percent, or 348 of those people, are in the Congo.  Congo shares a gruesome reality with other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: it is the area of the world that has been hit hardest by the HIV-AIDS pandemic.

In South Africa there are five and half million people living with the HIV virus, and 1000 people die from AIDS each day.  People in South Africa say they spend more time attending funerals than they spend doing daily shopping.

In 2005 in Nigeria, 2,900,000 people were HIV positive.  In Malawi, where I used to live, a country of 12.3 million people, 17 percent, that is, over 1 million people, are living with the virus.  AIDS is the leading cause of death among adults, and life expectancy in Malawi is only 38 years.

In the Congo, over 1,800,000 people have already died of AIDS.  Current estimates place the infection rate at 4.5 percent, meaning that over 1,300,000 people are currently living with the virus.  And there are currently nearly 1 million children in Congo who have been left orphans, thanks to this cruel disease.  Like many of you, I have known too many friends and colleagues who have suffered, and who have passed away as a result of AIDS.  It has claimed already too many of us.

Nonetheless, I want to emphasize to you today that AIDS is not an unstoppable killer which we must accept.  We can prevent HIV infection.  We know how to do that.  We can prolong the lives of those living with AIDS.  We can all do our best to ensure that those carrying the disease receive treatment, and that we deal with them with respect and integrity and human dignity.  We can, we must, fight AIDS.  And eventually we will defeat it.  In the meantime, we as human beings should all be involved in efforts to do all we can to help its victims, and stop the infection from spreading.  That joint effort can produce big results.

In the United States, Nearly four years ago President George W. Bush announced in his State of the Union address the creation of a global initiative to address the HIV-AIDS pandemic.  This initiative is called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known simply as “The Emergency Plan.”  This five year plan provides 15 billion dollars for HIV-AIDS prevention, treatment and care in 26 countries, of which the Democratic Republic of Congo is one.  As President Bush declared in his speech, “Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many.”  It is the largest initiative in history to combat a single disease.

In 2005, when Ambassador Randall Tobais was U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, he noted that the Emergency Plan is about people who reach out to help other people. 

In 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.S. Government used 11 million dollars in Emergency Plan funds in many different ways to prevent new HIV infections and to treat and care for people whose lives have been affected by the disease of AIDS.  We work with important partners like Population Services International, Family Health International, Catholic Relief Services, and others on programs that provide counseling and testing to individuals across Congo.  We support care and treatment services at the Kalembe Lembe Pediatric Hospital.

The U.S. Government also funded a project to create the “ligne verte,” a toll free hotline to help youth and adults nationwide discuss personal risk reduction strategies.

The U.S. Government is also funding HIV testing and prevention measures in the military.  We have funded projects to ensure blood safety, and we’ve worked with Catholic Relief Services to provide care and support for children orphaned by the disease.  We’re working with partners such as the University of North Carolina and the Kinshasa School of Public Health to help increase the capacity to monitor and respond to this pandemic.  The U.S. Government has trained secondary school English teachers in four cities to pass on the Emergency Plan message of ABCD (abstinence, be faithful, condom use and testing) to their students.  These are important examples of people reaching out to help other people.

Today we are launching a new means of communicating the Emergency Plan message of ABCD.  Today we are releasing for the first time a collection of songs by Congolese musicians.  The CD is entitled “ABCD-Rien Que La Vérité,” and it includes as one of 15 tracks an ensemble song on which all of the musicians involved in the project collaborated.  In addition, we have created a short documentary film about the making of the music CD along with a music video of the ensemble song.  There is also a website where people can go to download the music free of charge.  Today we are beginning the distribution—free of charge—of 20,000 copies of the CD and 5,000 cassettes.  Our partner for the distribution of these CDs and cassettes is Population Services International.

This project is significant for two reasons.  First, this represents a combined effort of the U.S. Government and its local partners, The Music Club of Kinshasa and Population Services International, to reach out to young people with the Emergency Plan message in a medium that we hope will attract their attention.  We have used Congolese musicians as role models because they are public figures who command respect from young people.  We hope that the participation of so many stars of Congolese popular music who have worked together will make a strong impact on the listeners.

Secondly, this project is significant because it represents the cooperation of these musicians working together toward a common goal—to pass on a message that will help save lives by preventing new infections of the HIV virus.  These musicians have lent their professional skills and talents to this project, for which we are profoundly grateful.  The participation of the musicians would not have taken place without the help of our local partner, The Music Club of Kinshasa.

At this moment, there is no cure for AIDS, nor is there a vaccination against infection from the HIV virus.  But there are options for treatment and care, and the Emergency Plan is bringing those options to the Congo.  Although we cannot yet cure the disease, we can save lives by preventing new infections of this deadly virus.   The work of the musicians involved with this project is an important step in passing along important prevention messages.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those involved who have devoted their time, their talent and skills to this project.  Certainly to the musicians who have produced the beautiful Congo music on the CD – music that is well known by all.  But also, my heartfelt thanks to Serge Gontcho, to the Music Club of Kinshasa, to the technicians and the many involved in recording and producing the disc, to many others involved in the organization, and especially to Katya Thomas, who I know has worked very hard to see this day come to fruition.

Dr. Mark Dybyl is the current U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Chief Medical Officer.  I would like to close with his words:  “The American people will stand with the people of the world in this fight until the fight is won.”

Thank you.