First Lady visits Haiti

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Laura Bush was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, last week, and she visited the GHESKIO HIV/AIDS clinic, which I linkurl:visited;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/3/1/42/101/ this past January for an linkurl:article;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/3/1/42/1/ on implementation research in our March issue. Bush was there drumming up support for linkurl:The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief;http://www.pepfar.gov/ (PEPFAR), according to linkurl:__The Boston Globe__.;http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/03/14/first_lady_visits_haitian_aids_clinic/ President George Bush started PEPFAR in 2003, dedicating $15 billion to the effort over five years. Last Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee linkurl:approved;http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=294768&& legislation that boosts PEPFAR's budget to $50 billion and extends the program for another five years. When I was in Haiti, I learned that a lot of the antiretroviral drugs that GHESKIO dispenses linkurl:free of charge;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/3/1/42/100/ to Haitian HIV/AIDS patients are bought with PEPFAR money. __The Globe__ reported that the First Lady "barely set foot outside a car or building during the tightly managed trip," while in Port-au-Prince, which is understandable given the still-precarious security situation in Haiti's capital - especially in the neighborhoods surrounding the GHESKIO center.

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