MOUNT AIRY, Md. -- President George W. Bush is marking World AIDS Day with a call to Congress to approve an additional $30 billion to fight against AIDS worldwide over the next five years.

"Above all, we rededicate ourselves to a great purpose: We will turn the tide against HIV/AIDS -- once and for all," Bush said during an appearance Friday at Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, Md.

In advance of Saturday's World AIDS Day, Bush appeared at the church, which supports a Christian group home and school in Namibia for children orphaned by the disease, to announce plans to visit Africa early next year to highlight the need for AIDS funding and his administration's efforts.

The White House is displaying a red ribbon in recognition of World AIDS Day on Friday and Saturday on the North Portico.

During his appearance at the church, Bush also met with Martha Chilufya who established the Mututa Memorial Center in Zambia. First lady Laura Bush and Jenna Bush visited the center in June.

"World AIDS Day is both a day of sadness and a day of hope," Bush said. "We remember with sadness all those lost to AIDS. We mourn their lives cut short, their dreams of future denied. And we ask for God's blessing on the loved ones they have left behind. We also mark this day with hope -- for the improving prospects of those living with the virus, for the unprecedented number of infections being prevented, and for new progress toward eradicating this disease."

Pope Calls For More Efforts

Bush isn't the only world leader calling for intensifying efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus.

During his weekly audience, Pope Benedict said Friday that he is praying for those suffering from AIDS and urged "people of goodwill" to care for the sick and "oppose the scorn that often strikes those affected."

The pope said, "I am spiritually close to those who suffer as a result of this terrible illness as well as to their families, in particular those struck by the loss of a close relative."

The United Nations estimates that the number of people affected by HIV this year was 35.2 million, down from 39.5 million in 2006.

China Reports Large Drop

China is one of several countries announcing a decrease in the number of HIV infections, with Beijing reporting a huge drop in the number of people it believes are infected with HIV in the country.

Early estimates reported nearly a million people with the virus. Since then, the number has slid down. On Friday, China said about 220,000 people are infected. Experts believe the figures are probably accurate because they line up with a change in data collection.

Old AIDS numbers were largely based on how many infected pregnant women were at pre-natal clinics. Officials said those figures were flawed, and are now incorporating more data like national household surveys.

China had denied AIDS was a problem for years. But leaders have shifted gears dramatically in recent years, promising anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus.

Clinton Pledges Increased Funding

A day before Bush's call for more AIDS funding, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also called for more funding.

On Thursday Clinton used an appearance at one of the nation's largest evangelical churches to sketch a broad agenda to take on disease around the globe, calling it "the right thing to do."

The centerpiece of a speech laced with Biblical references and reflections on her own faith was a call to spend billions of dollars to combat HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases at home and abroad. She said she would try to stamp out malaria deaths in Africa within eight years.

Money and government alone cannot solve the problems, she said. AIDS "is a problem of our common humanity, and we are called to respond with love, with mercy and with urgency," she said.

Earlier this week Clinton released her proposal to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, which focuses in part on fighting the spread of the illness in minority communities. As president, she said she would double the HIV/AIDS research budget at the National Institutes of Health -- to $5.2 billion annually -- and spend at least $50 billion within five years around the globe.

World AIDS Day

The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

Leadership is the World AIDS Day theme for 2007 and 2008. The theme highlights both the political leadership needed to fulfill commitments that have been made in response to HIV/AIDS -- particularly the promise of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support -- and celebrating the leadership that has been witnessed at all levels of society.