President-elect Barack Obama on Monday applauded President George W. Bush for delivering on his commitment to fighting AIDS overseas, and he vowed to continue and expand that work. Obama's comments came in taped remarks delivered to the Saddleback Church Civil Forum on AIDS in Washington.

Thanks to the global mobilization against HIV, "women in Kenya who were widowed by the disease and once shunned by society have banded together to support and empower each other," Obama said. "Governments are coming together to address the humanitarian crisis the pandemic has left in its wake."

Obama thanked Bush "for his leadership in crafting a plan for AIDS relief in Africa" and for channeling the funds necessary to its execution. Obama pledged to "continue this critical work" and to refocus attention on the disease on the domestic front following his inauguration on January 20.

"We must also recommit ourselves to addressing the AIDS crisis here in the United States with a strong national strategy of education, prevention, and treatment, focusing on those communities at greatest risk," Obama said. "This strategy must be based on the best available science and built on the foundation of a strong health care system." Nonetheless, he said, "in the end, this epidemic can't be stopped by government alone, and money alone is not the answer either."

[Source: CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention | Agence France-Presse | December 1, 2008]