Contact: White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 202-456-2580

ARLINGTON, Virginia, July 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- The following text is of remarks by President Bush in a conversation on the Americas:

Hyatt Regency Crystal City

10:30 A.M. EDT

[Continued from part 1]

MR. DIMENSTEIN:  And only because we put together the health center to the school, the school performance improved 30 percent in one year and a half, because the people have problems in hearing or eyes, and so on and so on, and discovered that the best way to spend money is not to waste money -- and to not waste money, you see everything you can use toward education.  That's the (inaudible) Escola, teaching neighborhoods 24 hours, that we create that.

THE PRESIDENT:  So part of the purpose of this gathering is to analyze best practices.  And by that I mean what works.  Gilberto has just described a program that works, and hopefully somebody will be inspired by this idea and try it out in another part of our neighborhood.

And so I appreciate you coming.  Thanks for bring something that --

MR. DIMENSTEIN:  Thank you very much for the invitation. 

THE PRESIDENT:  You're not only a social entrepreneur, you're an educational entrepreneur.  And we appreciate your vision and your hard work to make your country a better place.

An individual can make a significant difference in the life -- in somebody else's life.  And when you can motivate and encourage millions of individuals to make a difference in somebody's life, then the impact becomes pretty profound.  And here's an example of one fellow who is working hard to improve his country.  Thanks for coming.

Dr. Marie.  How are you, Doc?

DR. DESCHAMPS:  I'm doing fine, thank you.  It's an honor to be here.

THE PRESIDENT:  What kind of doctor are you?

DR. DESCHAMPS:  From my graduation in Haiti as a doctor -- I was trained in the U.S. and become an infectious disease specialist.  At that time, AIDS epidemic had started, but we did not know the entirety of HIV/AIDS at that time.  So stigmatization was high.  And I decided to return home and co-founded the GHESKIO Health Institution as an NGO, working closely with the Ministry of Health.  So a two-faceted TB, HIV and infected (inaudible), we developed the model eventually which its services offering care and prevention treatment for the HIV, the tuberculosis, malaria, and other sexual transmitted infection.

And, unfortunately, we saw that the epidemic went from the beginning where it was mostly male individuals, it became now an (inaudible) disease, and actually 62 percent of the population coming to the clinic are women.  So I decided to integrate a (inaudible) of health service with (inaudible) clinic, offering treatment also to the pregnant woman to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

And, unfortunately, sexual violence toward women became very high also in Haiti.  So in 2000, I integrate a unit offering care and treatment for victims of sexual violence, which is an interesting model where all those services are integrated.  The Ministry of Health had requested that we replicate this model throughout the country.  So for the last three years, with the PEPFAR funds, which are an incentive, we have created a network of 27 health institutions, public and private, offering the same services.

And what is amazing is that what we are observing is that we are creating more partnership with other organization, working in the field, and we share the experience.  And with a strong partnership, public and private sector partnership, we are about to replicate our model also in the existing health institution.

THE PRESIDENT:  So she's from Haiti, obviously.  She's a doc.  She's deeply concerned about HIV/AIDS and malaria.

You know, our government and the people -- the generosity of the Americans, American people can be -- as manifested by just money, spending money.  Up to now we have talked about how American citizens spend time and effort to help improve lives.  We also spend money.  And this is an area where I feel very strongly that America should be involved and make a difference, and that is fighting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and dealing with malaria.

And so, to this end, I'm asking Congress for $30 billion expenditure over the next five years.  She mentioned PEPFAR.  That's, like, initials for the AIDS initiative, and we're making a big difference.

The reason I bring this up again is that -- I'm not bragging, I'm just telling the American taxpayer that through your hard work and your tax dollars, we're helping programs like Maria's that are saving lives.  We can measure the lives being saved.  We can measure the amount of antiretroviral drugs ending up in people's systems.  We can measure how many different groups there are involved.  This is an area, for example, where the faith-based community has made a significant difference, not only in our own hemisphere but in other affected countries as well.

Maria mentioned that it's amazing what happens when they start networking; when one group attracts another group, that attracts another group, and all of a sudden, there's a grassroots organization in place to deal with this terrible pandemic.

And so I want to thank you for going back to your country; for lending your skills to help solve a significant problem that can be -- that at least, we can arrest the race.  At least we can help -- and we save children through the mother-to-child transmission -- programs that prevent that transmission of AIDS.

So, good going.

MS. PACHECO:  Thank you.

DR. DESCHAMPS:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.  You upbeat?  You feeling all right about things?

DR. DESCHAMPS:  Oh, very good.  We are very happy.  And what we found, interestingly, when you give them the drugs, patients feel better, they're healthy, and they don't beg for food, their one job.  So, interestingly, with the PEPFAR funds, we are able to give them the help that they require and now they ask for a job.  So we create, again, partnership, with a micro-credit institution, so healthy individuals, whether they were HIV or not, have access to micro-credit.  And now they create their own micro-business.

And what is interesting is that 95% of those individuals, who were a beneficiary of this organization, were able to return the funds back.  So more and more people can use now the micro-credit.

THE PRESIDENT:  That's one thing that Secretary Paulson's going to discuss in the break-out session that he is going to be leading, and that is, our view of the importance of micro-loans -- micro-credit, as a way to help people, again, help themselves and realize their potential.  So thanks for coming.

DR. DESCHAMPS:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Glad you're here.

DR. DESCHAMPS:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Our last panelist is John Howe, formerly of the great state of Texas.  Once a Texan, always a Texan, John.  (Laughter.)  He is the President and CEO of Project HOPE.  Why don't you explain what that is and tell us what you're doing.

DR. HOWE:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Next year's the 50th anniversary of this wonderful organization.  In 1958, President Eisenhower provided encouragement for us to be created.  To tell you a secret, we're not legally charted as Project HOPE.  We're legally chartered here in Washington as the People-to-People Foundation, doing business as Project HOPE.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good.

DR. HOWE:  And it was in that era that President Eisenhower provided a ship.  And the rest is history.  This is in 12 countries, over 12 years.  The last two years was in Brazil, and, reaching out and making a difference as a result in Peru, where Secretary Hughes will be later this summer, the ship visit, the original S.S. HOPE.  And as a result, the first medical school university hospital was created outside of Lima.  And the same stories were recapitulated on and on.

But that's yesterday.  Let me put a face on today.  In the past 72 hours, a woman named Elmira Quia left her village in Guatemala, in pot-holed barrios, and she took a trip -- on foot, with a truck, with a bus -- 400 kilometers to reach the ship; the great Naval hospital ship, the Comfort, that had been dispatched by Admiral Stravitas (phonetic), who's with us today.

And onboard were Project HOPE volunteers; ordinary Americans, volunteers.  And she met Dr. Nick Morris from Powell, Wyoming, and Nick is a general surgeon.  She walked there because she was not able to care for her family, because she had a huge -- now I'm going to get medical -- abdominal hernia.  And she met Dr. Morris, and Dr. Morris took her to the ship and repaired that hernia.

She's back in her village today, having been cured.  And it was life-changing for her, sir, but it was life-changing for Dr. Morris.  Put another way, as we were talking with our colleague from Guatemala, after two stops out of the 12 this summer, of the Comfort, the volunteers on board the Naval hospital ship from Project HOPE and our Navy counterparts, have cared for 27,000 patients, at the least, in Guatemala.  And when you count in the patients in Panama, just completed 35,000.  Next week I'll have an opportunity to go onboard the ship in Nicaragua to say thank you to the volunteers, say thank you.

So, sir, I want to say that when you gave permission for the Mercy, the other big white hospital ship to respond to the needs in Banda Aceh, what you unleashed is evidence of the spirit of volunteerism in our country -- 4,000 doctors and nurses applied for the 210 positions two years ago, and we've had a similar experience.  So it's a wonderful example of America at its best.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks, John.  You know, it's interesting, our country has got certain images that -- some are true, some aren't true.  And it's very important, as part of our diplomacy, diplomatic effort, on behalf of the American citizens, to remind people about some of the great generous acts that our citizens are doing.  And they do it out of the goodness of their hearts.  There's nothing better than being a volunteer.  It's probably one of the great acts of kindness that somebody can do, is to volunteer to save somebody's life, or just to add a little love in somebody's heart.

And we've got millions of our citizens who do that on a daily basis here at home.  And it's in our interest that citizens who so want to can do that outside, in our neighborhood.  And part of the purpose of having this gathering today is to remind our citizens of that which we're doing, and to call upon our citizens, if they've got time, to help somebody in need.  As you said, the doctor from Wyoming benefited just as much as the woman in Guatemala did.  And that's the beauty of giving.

And so I thank you all for joining today.  Our panelists did a magnificent job, like I knew they would.  I thank you all very much for your interest in coming.  To my fellow citizens, I appreciate you taking time.  I appreciate you being involved.  I thank you for caring about the plight of our fellow human beings in the neighborhood in which we live.  For those of you from other countries, welcome to America.  You'll find this to be a loving country, full of decent, caring, fine people.  And it is an honor to be the President of such a country.

Que Dios les bendiga.  May God bless you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

 END 11:15 A.M. EDT