US First Lady lauds SA 'courage'
Clive Ndou
13 July 2005
United States First Lady Laura Bush has described South Africa's HIV/Aids programmes as progressive and local women's attitude towards the pandemic as "courageous".
Bush arrived in Cape Town on Monday to begin the South African leg of her week-long official visit to South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda.
On Wednesday, she visited Khayelitsha, where she was taken on a tour of the Mothers to Mothers HIV/Aids project's facilities in the area.
Local women started the project to help pregnant HIV-positive women to cope with their condition. The women are taught how best to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to deal with opportunistic diseases.
The US First Lady wrapped up her public engagement at the Centre of the Book, where she met 20 women who have benefited from the Mothers to Mothers project.
"Projects like these make the US government proud to be a partner in South Africa's fight against the HIV/Aids pandemic", Bush
said. "Mothers to Mothers is a courageous step taken by local women and gives hope to millions of others who are infected with the disease."
She said that her government, like the South African government, believed that there was a correlation between HIV/Aids and poverty.
"It has been proven that women who are financially independent and have access to information, have a better chance of fighting HIV/Aids. On the other hand, those who are illiterate and poor are the most vulnerable.
"Last month, President Bush announced approximately US$55-million for women's empowerment in Africa," the First Lady said. "The funds will help protect women and empower them in society."
Bush also speaks on behalf of public-private partnerships between the United States Agency International (USAid) and other private health care organisations.
Source: BuaNews
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