President Bush Set to Visit Five African Countries, Focus on HIV/AIDS, Economic Development

July 7, 2003 - President Bush is scheduled to visit five African nations—Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria—from July 7 to July 12 to promote economic development and the fight against HIV/AIDS, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said on Friday.

"This visit highlights the Bush administration's commitment to working toward a free, prosperous, and peaceful Africa," Fleischer said. The trip was originally scheduled for January, but it was postponed.

During the trip next month, Bush is expected to promote several initiatives that focus on Africa, including the President's five-year, $15 billion AIDS initiative (HR 1298), which he signed into law last month, and the Millennium Challenge Account, which calls for increasing aid to developing countries in exchange for a range of political and economic reforms.

The global AIDS initiative was designed to prevent seven million new HIV infections, care for 10 million people living with the disease, and provide treatment to two million HIV-positive people.

Bush is scheduled to "have a first-hand encounter" with HIV/AIDS in Botswana and to meet with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and South African President Thabo Mbeki. In a meeting with Museveni earlier this month, Bush praised him for his efforts in the fight against AIDS and cited Uganda's ABC AIDS program (Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom) as a model for his global AIDS initiative.

Last revised: August 15, 2007