Ambassador Perry's Speeches

Young Women’s Christian Association Triennial Convention (23 May 08)

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

Thank you all for welcoming me here today.  It is heartening to see so many powerful women here to show their solidarity and commitment to causes we all believe are so crucial to the development of Sierra Leone.  I am pleased to appear before a group whose motto “by love, serve one another,” combines affection and an emphasis on the need for public and community service.  These values have the potential to bring Sierra Leone into the modern era in development, health, education, and other areas.

Your work, including your educational institutions, your HIV/AIDS programs, your enterprise development and community development activities are truly admirable.  As a result of the efforts of grassroots activists, the lives of Sierra Leoneans have been dramatically improved.  More is needed, though.

Last year, over two and a half million children worldwide lived with AIDS, and 330,000 died from it.   That means over 300,000 children who will not have the opportunities that you and I have had to make an impact in the world.  A child becoming infected with AIDS is especially disturbing because they are nearly always unwitting or unwillingly involved in their own infections.  Mother to child transmission is almost entirely preventable by the use of anti-retroviral treatments.  The other ways that children contract HIV are more horrifying, and equally preventable.

Yet with all of this knowledge, the treatment and prevention programs focused on children are far fewer than and not as well-funded as those that focus on adults.  Medicines are developed with adults in mind, so the dosage for children is complex.   Doctors specializing in pediatric HIV are few.

Though the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the United States has begun to commit resources, money and attention to improving and strengthening HIV/AIDS programs for children, but the work is far from completed.

Your role as community leaders is crucial at every phase of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.  Your ability to lessen stigma by welcoming those with HIV into your communities is crucial.  Your vocational and educational institutions can arm your communities with the knowledge necessary to avoid putting themselves at risk, including education for children. 

Your hospitals can ensure that women with child receive the anti-retroviral drug nevarapine, which is one of the most effective ways of preventing mother-to-child transmission.  Distribution and education on the proper use of condoms is also crucial to containing HIV, even more important among populations that tend to have multiple partners at a given time.

Sierra Leone is at a crucial point in its fight against AIDS.  The epidemic here has not reached the proportions that it has in some parts of Africa, especially in the South.  The fight against AIDS is nevertheless crucial, as Sierra Leone has only taken the first steps on a long, long journey. 

That journey might be one in which the rate at which Sierra Leoneans are infected with AIDS begins to decline, never reaching the staggering statistics of some parts of Africa.  The alternative is a journey none of us wants to contemplate, and from which it will be very difficult to return.

As religious leaders and educators, you also have the potential to counteract harmful misinformation.  Many people around the world continue to believe that HIV/AIDS can be cured through having sex with a girl who is a virgin.  This horrible myth has caused many adults around the world to infect children with HIV through no fault of the child. 

Increasing rates of HIV in children are often associated with rape, sexual assault and/or sexual violence. The sexual exploitation of children should be a topic of open discussion in your churches and mosques, schools and community centers.  Only when society is open and receptive to discussions of this type, will infection rates begin to drop.

As President Bush said, “The United States has responded vigorously to [the HIV] crisis. In 2003, I asked Congress to approve an emergency plan for AIDS relief. Our nation pledged $15 billion over five years for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in many of the poorest nations on Earth. In the years since, thanks to the support of the United States Congress and the American people, our country has met this pledge. This level of assistance is unprecedented, and the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in human history.”

Through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program (AGSP) the Ambassador’s Special Self Help (SSH) projects, and numerous grants through USAID, the Department of Defense, and other agencies, the U.S. Government supports health programs worldwide.  This year, President Bush approached the US Congress to double the financial allocations, making it a $30 billion commitment over the next five years for combating HIV.  We are proud to be working in partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone and other stakeholders on this monumental battle.

Children are the foundation of a strong nation and the guardians of the future of the country.  Community organizations like yours can make a difference in the education, protection, and, when necessary, treatment of children affected by or infected with HIV.  Thank you for coming to this convention, and I pledge to you that the United States government is committed to helping your protect your children and your communities.