The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill authorizing $48 billion over the next five years to help treat and prevent AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. The measure, which will triple funding for these three diseases, is now sent to President George W. Bush, who is expected to sign it into law.

The amount authorized for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the successful U.S. global AIDS program, is $18 billion more than what Bush had requested. It would replace and expand the current $15 billion program started by the President in 2003. That act expires at the end of September.

The bill was approved 303 to 115 by the House. The Senate passed an identical bill on July 16 by 60 to 13 votes. It also repeals a 15-year-old U.S. law that bars HIV-positive visitors and immigrants from being granted visas to the United States.

The bill not only lays out a five-year strategy for confronting AIDS, TB and malaria, but also sets up a policy framework on such closely related issues as gender, care for orphaned children, nutrition, and health care worker shortages. It currently operates in 15 focus countries and claims to support antiretroviral treatment for 1.4 million people worldwide.