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Opening Statement by
We have had a very successful meeting. We have passed a resolution dealing with nutrition and physical activity. And I know that there have been some questions as to the United States position. Let me just point out that we are very much in favor of this resolution. My department of Health and Human Services has been very much involved and we have been extremely active in regards to nutrition and physical activity. In fact I have placed my whole department on a diet. I have got the divisions competing against one another. We are making a huge national effort. I have called in the grocer manufacturers, the restaurant association, the soft drinks companies, the health insurance companies, all of those individuals have been invited into my office to discuss how we can do a better job of reducing obesity and overweight problems that we have in this country. In the United States it is the fastest growing disease, 117 billion dollars, and over 300,000 Americans die from diseases related to people being overweight and obese. So it is a serious problem, not only with the general public, but more specifically with our children. Sixteen to twenty percent of our children are overweight or obese, whereas 62 to 65% of our adults are. And so America has got a huge problem with this. The Department has led the effort. I personally have lost 15 pounds, and am hopefully going to lose another 10 pounds this year, and I hand out these little pedometers. ... I've got every member of the Cabinet wearing them in the United States and they are monitoring their walking habits on a daily basis. We are also trying to put in our schools more emphasis on physical activity. So I was somewhat surprised when some members of the press questioned our intentions as far as the resolution. I am very much in favor of it. That is why I came to vote for it today. It is going to be up in May. And I will be giving a speech on this resolution. We are also having a set of guidelines on how we are going to be able to carry it out. And on those guidelines we are asking for scientifically based evidence. People are going to rely upon these guidelines, so we want to be darn sure that they are correct. I understand, in my capacity as chairman of the Global Fund, that there has been some question of whether or not the Global Fund and the World Health Organization are doing enough on malaria. Let me tell you, I just got done touring Africa, the first week in December, where I went to five countries, Cameroon, Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda. I led a delegation of 103 people. The head of the World Health Organization was with me, Dr. Lee. The head of the UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, the head of the Global Fund, the executive director, Richard Feachem. A lot of Congressmen, a lot of Ambassadors, a lot of Senators. And all of those individuals, we went through to see how well our programs are working. I would like to just point out that for the first time there is a degree of optimism on the continent of Africa. That doesn't mean that we are anywhere near controlling this disease, because we are not. But at least we are giving people hope and opportunity for the first time. We went out to several villages, and one of the villages in Zambia, we went there the day that they were handing out the impregnated bed-nets. The Global Fund is going to be the largest purchaser of bed nets within the next year, and we are going to be handing these out to people in order to first prevent Malaria. Now that is number one. You have to realize that my whole emphasis as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is to prevent diseases before they happen. That is also what I am trying to do on the Global Fund. That is why I am pushing so hard for us to be the largest purchaser of bed nets. Because if we can prevent a young child in Zambia, or Uganda, or Rwanda from coming down with Malaria, we are much better off than trying to treat that person after he or she comes down with it. With regards to medicine, we have pretty much, up until now -- and you have to realize the Global Fund has only been up and running a little over two years, so we have had some growing pains -- but our emphasis is to get the best evidence out there possible. There is no question in some cases, some of the countries have developed some resistance to chloroquine. But we also recognize that in some other countries where we have a presence, chloroquine has not been a drug that resistance has developed too. So we are trying in those countries that have developed a resistance to move them over to ACT [artemisinin-class combination therapies] which is the new medicine. There is no reason to be criticized for what we are trying to do. We certainly can do better, but we are always trying to get the best evidence out there, the best medicines, because that is our objective. The Global Fund is set up to treat. It is set up to get the medicine out there. So we are going to make some mistakes, but we are also trying to do everything as fast as we can, but also as safely and as efficiently as we possibly can. That is why we toured Africa in the first week in December. And that is why I am out raising dollars, trying to get more dollars in, so that we have more resources to help these countries. The Global Fund started a little over two years ago and I've been chairman now of the board for just a little over a year. And we have grown from nothing to a corporation that has resources of $5 billion. We are in 135 countries. We have signed agreements with 135 countries and we have programs and projects going in about 135 countries. This is in two years. I don't know of any business that you could ever think of that could grow that rapidly in two years to have resources of $5 billion and be in 135 countries already. We are worldwide. It is a huge undertaking. And the Global Fund has done remarkably well. But I wanted you to know we are not telling people they can only use one medicine because it is cheaper. That is absolutely not the case. We are looking at the best therapies, the best medicines, and that is why in those countries where there has been immunity developed to chloroquine we are encouraging those countries to move over to the new drug called ACT.
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