David CookA: The most moving thing I ever saw was at a rural clinic in Rwanda. I asked to see people with opportunistic infections that relate to AIDS. I was told they didn’t have any cases. It’s because 90-some percent of people in that area who needed AIDs drugs were on them.
When I first visited Africa in 2003, I saw full hospices, places people were going to die. I saw full AIDS wards and clinics, where people at least had the hope of health. Now to see empty wards?
That hospital was focusing on diabetes, low birth weight babies, heart disease. All of a sudden, they had the luxury of focusing on the diseases we focus on instead of emergencies related to infectious diseases.
When President Bush announced PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) in the State of the Union address in 2003, there were about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa on AIDS treatments. The most recent numbers across two administrations is well over 7 million. It’s literally saving the lives of millions. A lot of good people — Republicans and Democrats — contributed to this.
Q: What role should global poverty play in the 2016 campaign?