OPENING OF BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

Opening of Baylor College of Medicine-Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Center of Excellence

Prince of Wales Stadium
February 24, 2006

Your Majesty, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The official opening of the Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Baylor College of Medicine is a joyous occasion for us all and a significant step in the fight against the pandemic of HIV & AIDS in Swaziland.

 Most people in Swaziland need no reminder of the terrible toll that HIV/AIDS is exacting in Swaziland.  With the highest prevalence rate in the world, AIDS is devastating families, hampering economic development, crushing health systems and leaving in its wake thousands of orphans and many communities with entire generations lost. With Swazi men, women and children effected at an alarming rate, the American Embassy in Swaziland has made helping Swaziland stem the tide of HIV/AIDS its absolute highest priority.

Working through six US government agencies---the Center for Disease Control, USAID, Peace Corps, Departments of Defense and Labor, and the African Development Foundation, the United States Govt. is working in conjunction with a variety of partners and stakeholders targeted at providing programs dedicated for better prevention, care and support --including human capacity development, improved behavior change communication, strengthening capacity among NGOs, programs for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and improving the quality of care and support for patients and orphans among others.

The United States does this both through a significantly increasing bilateral HIV/AIDS program -- currently over $7m a year and that is expected to continue increasing in size and scope. We are also one of the major contributors to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria at a level of some $20m+ disbursed to date and so, in that indirect sense, we are contributing to the operation and support of this Center of Excellence through GF money made available through NERCHA to the MOHSW.

In my role as US Ambassador, I get to represent the President of the United States and the government of the United States, and as well some 300 million of our fellow American citizens. Our country and its citizens have a long tradition of service and involvement both through official US-sponsored and programs but also through the generous contribution of individual American citizens, organizations and private corporations. 

In the case of the Children’s Center of Excellence, Bristol Myers Squibb and the Baylor College of Medicine are continuing this great tradition of American generosity and partnership. To Baylor and to BMS, let me say to you an official and most heartfelt thank you. You are indeed one of the many good faces of America.