|
Kranj: US President George W. Bush will ask the European Union to aid the fight against diseases and support health care missions in Africa, a White House official said on Monday.
At Tuesday’s summit, Bush is expected to ask for financial support to combat diseases such as hookworm and river blindness, the official said.
"These are seven significant diseases which together afflict close to a billion people," Dan Price, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to the summit in Slovenia.
"These diseases are treatable and beatable by medicines that are available today," Price said, adding that it would cost around $1 billion. The United States has already committed $350 million over the next five years, he said.
Bush will also back increasing the number of health care workers in Africa, he added.
|
