Speedy approval of AIDS billions expected

The US Congress is expected to approve at least US $2 billion for the launch of President George Bush's US $15 billion global HIV/AIDS plan. US secretary of health and human services, Tommy Thompson, said he was confident that the money would be approved before the end of 2003. Thompson was quoted by the Associated Press (AP) news agency as saying: "The process is working. It is moving faster than it has in a long time in Congress." Congress approved Bush's plan earlier this year, but the second step of passing legislation to make the money available each year is still under way. Bush's plan aims to spend 55 percent on treatment, 20 percent on HIV prevention and 25 percent on the care of people living with HIV/AIDS and AIDS orphans.