The U.S. House of Representatives on July 24 prepared to pass and send the $48 billion five-year President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to President George W. Bush, The Associated Press reports (ap.google.com, 7/24).

Bush, who founded the existing $15 billion plan in 2003, is expected to sign the bill that will triple funding for programs to fight and prevent AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the globe.

According to the article, 10 percent of funds will be allocated for orphans and vulnerable children, as in the current plan. The revised PEPFAR aims to prevent 12 million new infections, treat more than 2 million positive people in the developing world, support care for 12 million people living with the virus and train at least 140,000 new health care workers and paraprofessionals.

The Senate attached to the PEPFAR reauthorization bill a provision that will eliminate the two-decades-old travel restrictions placed on HIV-positive foreigners trying to enter the United States as immigrants, students or tourists.