US senators visit continent's AIDS crisis

Six US senators are currently visiting Africa to discuss ways of tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Voice of America (VOA) news agency reported on Tuesday. Joining the delegation is republican senator Lamar Alexander, who said the trip would help determine how President George W Bush’s US $15 billion global HIV/AIDS initiative could best be distributed. Bush recently signed into law an HIV/AIDS plan to tackle the pandemic in 14 African countries and the Caribbean. Delegation leader, senator Bill Frist, confirmed: "It is a moral imperative and in the national interest to fight the plague and improve the lives of African people." The delegation is to visit South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia, before reporting back on what Africans believe would be most helpful in tackling the pandemic.