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The big AIDS debate, and why the US should rightly be angry
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| imokruok |
Over the past several days in Thailand, world leaders have met to discuss the future of AIDS prevention and eradication. Photos of the leaders have been daubed in fake blood, and the US and several Western European nations have had their leaders branded as criminals, burned in effigy, etc.
The US has a right to be angry. America leads the world in AIDS research funding and in foreign aid. Bush himself started a $15 billion aid plan which is above and beyond what any other nation in the world has done.
American and European drug companies have made huge concessions to foreign countries to allow foreign nations to produce patented products, but where's the thanks? Activists now ask for full release of the patents, apparently not understanding that drug companies don't do research for the fun of it. There needs to be some kind of return, and drug companies have already taken huge cuts on their profits on their own accord.
Furthermore, activists continue to criticize the only AIDS policy in Africa that has been truly successful. The US has promoted a policy called "ABC" - Abstinence, Being Faithful, and Condom use - which is often portrayed as having no reference to condoms at all.
Under this policy, Uganda has brought its infection rate down to about 6 percent of the country's 25 million people, from more than 30 percent in the early 1990s. It's the most dramatic reduction ever seen, yet UN researchers and activists group denounce it as "bunk." (I've posted an article on the Ugandan President's comments, along with Kofi chastising the US).
As an American, there are billions of my tax dollars going to programs for which the world is apparently not grateful. By all means, world, if you can do it better, please do it. But don't criticize Americans and America for spending billions of dollars, and promoting a policy that apparently works. You don't like it, you fix it with your own money...which apparently you're not too keen to contribute.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200407130077.html
Museveni Down Plays Condoms
New Vision (Kampala)
July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004
Charles Wendo and John Odyek
Bangkok
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday stunned delegates at the international AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand, when he said condoms were not the answer to AIDS.
Museveni said Uganda had achieved a big reduction in HIV infection rates mainly due to abstinence among youths, faithfulness among adults and to a small extent, condom use.
He said Uganda had the lowest per capita condom use in sub-Saharan Africa but had achieved the biggest reduction in HIV infection.
He said Uganda used condoms as an improvised and not an ultimate solution to AIDS. He said condoms institutionalised mistrust in sexual relationships, disturbed some African sexual styles and might not be used consistently by some people such as drunkards.
"In some cultures sexual intercourse is so elaborate that condoms are a hindrance and therefore a frustration," he said, attracting wild laughter.
"People assume that all the people of the world have sex the same way. There is a big variety," he added. The remarks surprised delegates, who had been fed with views that the condom was the magic bullet, while condom campaigners protested.
But Museveni continued, "We don't think we can become universally condomised. However, if you cannot abstain or be faithful, then you should use the condom. It would be condemning such people to death if you oppose the condom," he added.
Museveni, renowned worldwide for his campaign against HIV/AIDS, delivered the speech at the first plenary session.
On Sunday he attracted thunderous applause when he was introduced at the opening ceremony, where he sat with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, film star Richard Gere and Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins.
After his speech, Museveni was supposed to go to the Ugandan stall but abandoned it because the stall was still empty.
He was chauffeured back to his hotel, disappointing scores of delegates, who were anxious to learn about Uganda's magic.
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Last Update: Wednesday, July 14, 2004. 0:28am (AEST)
ABC News Australia in Bangkok. (Reuters)
Annan urges US to fight AIDS
The United States must lead the fight against AIDS with the same commitment it shows in the battle against terrorism, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan said on Tuesday.
"We hear a lot about weapons of mass destruction. We hear a lot about terrorism. We are worried about weapons of mass destruction because of their potential to kill thousands of people," Mr Annan said in an interview with the BBC.
"Here we have an epidemic that is killing millions. What is the response?" Mr Annan said.
"We really do need leadership. America has the natural leadership capacity because of its resources, because of its size."
Mr Annan was speaking on the sidelines of an international AIDS conference in Bangkok where Washington's low-key presence, moral agenda and funding policies on AIDS have come under attack.
But a top US government scientist defended President George W Bush's $US15 billion plan to fight the AIDS epidemic that has killed 20 million people worldwide and infected 38 million.
"There is absolutely no diminished commitment in interacting internationally. Look at the president's programs. It's $US15 billion," Dr Tony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters.
The conference - the biggest gathering of scientists, activists, drug company bosses and AIDS sufferers - has seen daily protests by activists shouting "Shame, Shame" against Mr Bush and other rich country leaders who are accused of failing to support a UN-backed global AIDS fund.
In thinly veiled criticism on Tuesday, France said a US drive for bilateral trade deals was undermining an international pact to provide cheap copycat AIDS drugs to the developing world.
French Development Minister Xavier Darcos said Washington must honour the spirit of a multilateral trade commitment made in 2001 giving poor countries access to cheap generic drugs.
"Making certain countries drop these measures in the framework of bilateral trade negotiations would be tantamount to blackmail," said Mr Darcos, who was also jeered by activists.
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| NYCTrancefan |
While I am certainly not a fan of Shrub, I must say that as an American it made me sick to see Kofi Annan stand up there and offer a scathing critique of the U.S. on Aids, demanding that we give more money, our policies on terror has taken away from dealing with Aids, we should give more upfront money to the the U.N. Aids programme instead of us wanting to have foresight over where the U.S. taxpayers dollars are being spent once in UN coffers.
Maybe Mr. Annan should remember his role as General Secretary of the U.N. Recently he has found a niche in launching diatrates against the United States especially. He had the audacity to single out the U.S. while giving a token mentioning to Europe, and forget it he didn't even mention Canada, Japan, China, etc. The U.S he claimed should be giving $1 billion to the UN fund directly, outside of other Aids programmes, while Europe should give the same. Did I miss something why is it that Europe cannot give more. You're trying to tell me that collectively they are not richer than America.
I'm sick of the U.N. and Kofi Anan, they are too blindly drowning in their muddle of bumbling bureaucracy here in New York. Continue your campaign of singling out the U.S. Kofi, nice job:rolleyes: I wonder why Americans detest the U.N. |
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| torontotrance |
| The complainers will always ask for everything. Drug companies are trying, and for some of them, it is rare and a first. Bono showed that we had to help the African countries and most have come to the aid. Releasing the full medication is impossible, even if the entire patent was released, it would still not help. what to make cheaper drugs? The companies are already giving the medications away and taking a hit for putting them out cheaply. People don't need AIDS drugs, they need to stop ing each other like crazy and start using condoms and practicing safe sex. Stop it before it starts is my motto, I think the Africans need to think first, education is the big thing. I remember back in the mid 90's, AIDS/HIV was a huge problem in Canada and the USA and then we went to education and started programs and the infection rate in both countries has gone down some (more in Canada). I doubt you can blame the UN here, the UN is a body of countries that is headed in New York but it does what it feels is best for the global good, it pisses off a lot of countries at times but majority rules. I do sympathize with some of these African Countries tho because some are dirt poor, with tons of civil war and unrest tearing the country apart. Uganda should be a global example to the rest of the world, of what can happen when you do education and give people some things to help them. I do think that 1 Aids infection is too much. |
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| speedracer_mec |
| quote: | Originally posted by torontotrance
The complainers will always ask for everything. Drug companies are trying, and for some of them, it is rare and a first. Bono showed that we had to help the African countries and most have come to the aid. Releasing the full medication is impossible, even if the entire patent was released, it would still not help. what to make cheaper drugs? The companies are already giving the medications away and taking a hit for putting them out cheaply. People don't need AIDS drugs, they need to stop ing each other like crazy and start using condoms and practicing safe sex. Stop it before it starts is my motto, I think the Africans need to think first, education is the big thing. I remember back in the mid 90's, AIDS/HIV was a huge problem in Canada and the USA and then we went to education and started programs and the infection rate in both countries has gone down some (more in Canada). I doubt you can blame the UN here, the UN is a body of countries that is headed in New York but it does what it feels is best for the global good, it pisses off a lot of countries at times but majority rules. I do sympathize with some of these African Countries tho because some are dirt poor, with tons of civil war and unrest tearing the country apart. Uganda should be a global example to the rest of the world, of what can happen when you do education and give people some things to help them. I do think that 1 Aids infection is too much. |
well said andy
On a side note...I really dont see the U.S. and the U.N. together in the future. |
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| speedracer_mec |
Loooks like the french always have something to say.
Take from yahoo
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BANGKOK, Thailand - France accused the United States on Tuesday of pressuring developing countries to give up their right to make cheap generic HIV (news - web sites) drugs in return for free-trade agreements — with President Jacques Chirac calling the tactic "tantamount to blackmail."
AP Photo
Yahoo! Health
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A U.S. official dismissed the French allegation as "nonsense," while delegates to the International AIDS (news - web sites) Conference lamented figures showing only about 7 percent of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) urged Washington to show the same leadership in fighting AIDS as it has in fighting terrorism.
"We hear a lot about weapons of mass destruction, we hear a lot about terrorism. And we are worried about weapons of mass destruction because of the potential to kill thousands. Here we have an epidemic that is killing millions. What is the response?" Annan said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. in Bangkok.
"We really do need a leadership. America has a natural leadership capacity because of its resources, because of its size," Annan said.
Since the last AIDS conference in Barcelona in 2002, the number of people being treated for the disease has doubled in the developing world to 440,000. At the same time, 6 million people died from the virus and 10 million people became infected, World Health Organization (news - web sites) figures show.
"By these measures of human life, the ones that really matter, we have failed. And we have failed miserably to do enough in the precious time that has passed since Barcelona," said Jim Kim, WHO's AIDS director.
Cost is a key issue. European and U.S. pharmaceutical giants make most of the drugs, which are protected by patents and cost as much as $5,000 per person a year.
Many major drug companies have dropped their prices of AIDS drugs in recent years, and have given some away free in Africa.
The Bush administration's five-year, $15 billion plan for worldwide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment is modeled after a program in Uganda, which stresses abstinence, monogamy and condom use.
It recommends that 55 percent of direct aid go to treatment programs, 20 percent to prevention, 15 percent to palliative care and 10 percent to children orphaned by the disease.
The funding package allows money to be spent on generic antiretroviral medicine primarily in 14 African and Caribbean countries only if it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites), which so far has only approved branded versions of the drugs.
However, the FDA (news - web sites) said in May it would fast-track its reviews of any applications for generic drugs so that U.S. funds could be used to purchase the cheaper versions.
The Bush plan also devotes $5 billion over five years to bilateral programs in more than 100 countries and increases the U.S. pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by $1 billion over five years.
While the FDA plan does ensure faster evaluation, with fewer data requirements, than the agency usually mandates, AIDS advocacy groups and members of Congress still blast it as an extra layer of bureaucracy that will cause delays if not discourage generics in favor of more expensive patented medicines. Critics say it undermines the WHO, which has set its own standards for the drugs.
India — along with Thailand and Brazil — is among developing countries making cheap generic drugs, and on Tuesday, the WHO approved four new Indian-made medicines. Still, not enough affordable drugs are being produced: An estimated 38 million people are infected with HIV, mostly in poor countries: 25 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 7.2 million in Asia.
China, which had long denied having an AIDS problem, appealed for outside help in its fight against HIV. Wang Longde, Beijing's vice minister of health, told a session of the International AIDS Conference that his country lacks the resources to properly deal with its emerging epidemic.
China says it currently has 840,000 people infected with HIV — 80,000 of whom have full-blown AIDS. But the United Nations (news - web sites)' AIDS agency has warned that China could see 10 million HIV cases by 2010 if it doesn't act quickly.
World Trade Organization (news - web sites) rules give developing countries the flexibility to ignore foreign patents and produce copies of expensive drugs in times of health crises. All WTO members including the United States have signed an agreement to respect that clause.
But there is nothing to prevent a country from imposing patent restrictions in a bilateral trade agreement, such as one Washington is negotiating with Thailand.
In a statement read out at the conference, Chirac said forcing certain countries "to drop these measures in the framework of bilateral trade negotiations would be tantamount to blackmail."
"We should implement the (WTO) generic drug agreement to consolidate price reductions ... what is the point of starting treatment without any guarantee of having quality and affordable drugs in the long term?" Chirac said.
France's global ambassador on AIDS, Mireille Guigaz, said Chirac was not trying to create tension with Washington.
"The United States wants to put pressure on developing countries who try to stand up for their own industries," Guigaz said. "This is a problem."
A U.S. official who declined to be named called the French allegations "nonsense," and insisted the trade agreements will conform to WTO rules allowing poor countries to make generic drugs. "There really is no issue," he said.
About 100 AIDS activists, carrying mock body bags, interrupted a speech by the head of Pfizer, accusing multinational drug firms such of denying lifesaving medicine to HIV sufferers through inflated prices.
"Break the patents, treat the people," they shouted.
Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell resumed after a few minutes, saying the protection of patents drives innovation by ensuring companies will earn profits on important inventions.
Without intellectual property rights, "you would have exactly the same number of drugs that has been discovered in the Soviet Union in the past 50 years, which I think is about one," he said.
Chirac also called on rich nations to raise donations to the 2 1/2-year-old U.N. Global Fund — aimed primarily at fighting AIDS — by $3 billion per year. Wealthy countries have committed only a fifth of the $3.5 billion the fund needs for next year, U.N. officials said.
A group of Africans interrupted the French minister delivering Chirac's message to demand more AIDS funding from developed countries.
"Shame! Shame!" they chanted.
At the heart of the AIDS debate is how to control the spread of the virus.
Many delegates dismissed President Bush (news - web sites)'s policy of abstinence as a setback in global efforts to control the pandemic.They say using condoms and giving clean syringes to drug users is the best way to prevent HIV. |
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| MisterOpus1 |
Pardon me if I puke. Bush's actions are nothing less than atrocious, esp. when it comes to women. The first official action George W. Bush took as president was to reinstate the global gag rule of the Reagan years -- no clinic that so much as mentions abortion, even to women who will die without it, can receive U.S. aid. Between 1972 and 1989, Planned Parenthood used USAID financial assistance to provide 330 million cycles of birth control pills, 1.3 million condoms, 14 million IUDs and provide $92 million in financial assistance to over 439 family planning agencies around the world. The gag rule cut all funding to Planned Parenthood. Of course more abortions were the result.
The administration will spend most of its money on anti-AIDS activities overseas this year on abstinence-only programmes, despite the fact that married women and adolescents are the fastest growing segment of the population in the developing world to be infected with the disease.
Here's a descent opinion (albeit a little dated - Oct. 03) on the matter:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...DA90994DB404482
Some selected areas:
| quote: | In his 2003 State of the Union comments on AIDS - which were deservedly praised - Mr. Bush pledged $15 billion for AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean over five years. But instead of $3 billion for the first year, Mr. Bush backtracked to just $2 billion (much of it already in the pipeline). He's also trying to cut urgently needed contributions to the Global Fund, an international partnership to fight AIDS.
In fairness, there is a growing body of evidence that promoting conservative religious and social mores can reduce the scourge of AIDS. But the only religion that does this effectively is Islam. Muslim parts of African countries like Nigeria tend to have much less promiscuity and much less AIDS than Christian parts.
Somehow I doubt that the lesson that conservatives will take from this is that we should buy veils, encourage stonings and build fundamentalist mosques across Africa.
Frankly, it's going to be very hard to change sexual mores, and pious lectures aren't enough. Countries like Uganda and Thailand that have enjoyed some success in preventing AIDS suggest that abstinence campaigns can be effective, but only in conjunction with straight talk about condoms - not with the administration's approach of beginning and ending the conversation with abstinence.
Restricting funds to abstinence, and nothing more, looks as if the administration is more interested in showing that it shares the Christian Right's sexual squeamishness than in fighting AIDS. And all over Africa you see heartbreaking evidence both that sex kills, and that so does this kind of blushing prudishness. |
The administration is also fumbling the AIDS initiative by requiring that one-third of AIDS prevention funds do nothing but encourage sexual abstinence until marriage. This is the kind of stipulation set by people who sit in Washington and have never actually set foot in an African village.
Additionally, the American campaign group Population Action International is running a session entitled 'Abstinence is Coming Your Way', designed 'to challenge the substitution of science with ideology in the policy-making process'. When you have a group such as WHO which runs on scientific research principles, I suppose groups that run on ideology should always supercede over all.
Such is the way of this Administration to the "T" - ideology over logic.
I'm sorry, but Bush is about as "compassionate" as the runaway sweat-zit on my left ass cheek.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=3498046
| quote: | U.S. Abortion Policy Hits Clinics Abroad - Study
By Maggie Fox
Reuters
Wednesday 24 September 2003
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's anti-abortion policy has hit clinics in poor countries hard, forcing some to close and leave entire communities without healthcare, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
Under the policy, known as the Mexico City rule by supporters and the Global Gag rule by opponents, foreign family planning agencies cannot receive U.S. funds if they provide abortion services or lobby to make or keep abortion legal in their own country.
A survey of Ethiopia, Kenya, Romania and Zambia by Population Action International and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America showed the rule had forced clinics to close and left many men and women without access to contraceptives that could prevent both unwanted pregnancies and AIDS.
"Health services have been scaled back and closings of reproductive health clinics have left some communities with no healthcare provider," the group wrote in a statement.
The policy has also hurt AIDS prevention efforts, said the groups, which published the findings on the Internet at www.globalgagrule.org.
As one of his first acts in office in 2001, Bush reinstated the rule that former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, had lifted. The rule was originally imposed in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan at a Mexico City conference.
Last month Bush ordered the State Department to strengthen the rule by withholding U.S. family planning help from overseas groups that promote or perform abortions with their own money.
PROTECT WOMENS' HEALTH
Supporters say the United States should not be spending taxpayer money to promote abortion. Opponents argue that abortion is legal in the United States and elsewhere and that abortion counseling is part of a wide range of advice that women need to protect their health.
"Our research has found that the Global Gag Rule is taking a toll on the lives and health of women, children and families around the world," the report reads. Five family planning clinics run by nongovernmental organizations have closed in Kenya because they broke the rule and lost funding from the U.S. Agency for International development, the report said.
"The NGOs have also had to cut their staffing by as much as 30 percent, reduce services in remaining clinics and raise fees in order to remain viable."
"In Lesotho, one in four women is infected with HIV/AIDS -- one of the highest rates in southern Africa. Over a three-year period from 1998 to 2000, the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association received 426,000 condoms ... all donated by USAID," the report added.
"Because of their refusal to agree to the gag rule restrictions, they no longer receive USAID contraceptives."
In Kenya's Mathare Valley a clinic closed, leaving 300,000 people with no healthcare services. "And there is no other family planning or reproductive health clinic nearby," the report said.
In Romania, women may be more likely to get abortions, not fewer, because the rule has meant more women cannot get any information on contraceptives that can prevent unwanted pregnancies, the report said.
"This is the real face of Bush's compassionate conservatism -- a war on the world's most vulnerable women and children, who bear the brunt of Bush's obsession with appeasing his domestic political base," Planned Parenthood's Gloria Feldt said in a statement. |
And you must forgive me for not cowtowing to the pharmaceutical companies for allowing millions of individuals to die as a result of their steadfast refusal to lower their international prices for life-saving and life-expanding HIV drugs. Oh sure, they've lowered the prices a little bit, but only as a result of international pressure.
The almighty dollar champions everytime over humanity causes.
But I will give you this, Bush has certainly done more for the cause, albeit HIS personal faith-based twisted cause, than Clinton ever did in his 8 years. |
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| NYCTrancefan |
| quote: | Originally posted by speedracer_mec
Loooks like the french always have something to say.
Take from yahoo |
Seems to me like the French government should be more concerned about obeying their own rules in say the Euro Stablity pact for example and keep their noses out of the bilateral trade policies of America, we don't tell the French how to set up their policies. Monsieur Chirac should follow his own words that he loves to tell the E.U. newbies, "he missed a great opportunity to shut up" Chirac is as much of a grandstanding, old dotish geezer as Bush is arrogant. I would do much better to see Nikolas Sarkozy in power when this fool Chirac is gone in 2007, maybe as much I would like to see Bush gone. |
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| emander |
| Signs show AIDS now spreading to China. If they hit infected rates from most African countries, then god help us because it will be unstoppable unless a true preventative cure can be discovered.:( |
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| MisterOpus1 |
I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I am. Apparently Bush blocked a wide number of our U.S. scientists from attending the AIDS conference.
I love Bush's faith-based motto: If the facts interfere with the faith, go with the faith. Better yet, suppress opposing viewpoints entirely, so people won't even have to perform the distressing chore of separating faith from truth.
(actually that comes from Jon Carrol editorial, which I'll likely post later today)...
| quote: | Anger at US ban on Aids scientists
Bangkok conference forced to cancel meetings and retract papers after authors stopped from attending
Sarah Boseley in Bangkok
Monday July 12, 2004
The Guardian
The US government came under scathing attack from senior members of the medical establishment yesterday for blocking scientists from attending the International Aids conference which opened in Bangkok.
The biennial conference, with 17,000 delegates, is more political rally than scientific meeting and bears huge significance for those involved in the fight against HIV/Aids.
The US government has sent only a fraction of its usual contingent of scientists, pleading cost - 50 instead of the 236 who attended the last event in Barcelona in 2002.
The Department of Health and Human Services, headed by the health secretary, Tommy Thompson, was yesterday accused of actively preventing certain US scientists and doctors who had a contribution to make from travelling to Bangkok.
Many suspect that behind the action lies a rift between the US and Aids activists who oppose America's approach to the global pandemic.
Joep Lange, president of the Sweden-based International Aids Society, which organises the conference, said it had been forced to retract papers that had been accepted for conference sessions after the US scientist authors had been refused permission to come. Many meetings, some to train developing world researchers, have had to be cancelled.
"I really think it is shameful that they restricted the US government participation, particularly when you think they are putting so much money into the fight and people in the field who have to do the job are directly prevented from coming here," said Dr Lange.
Earlier, the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) had also unexpectedly spoken out. Catherine DeAngelis said that Marc Bulterys, the co-author of a Jama paper who worked for the government's Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control (CDC), had not been allowed to accept an invitation to fly to Bangkok to talk about it.
"It stymies the ability of scientists to discuss and learn from each other," said Dr DeAngelis. "It is wrong."
She pointed out that the trip would have been paid for by the American Medical Association, not the US government. "It is an incredible example of political pettiness. It is anti-intellectual and it is interfering with scientists and the scientific process and means American government-employed scientists are not allowed to be here to share their knowledge," she said.
Behind the fracas lies the gulf between the US policies on tackling HIV/Aids in the developing world and those of Aids activists who tend to dominate the big international event. Two years ago, Mr Thompson tried to give a speech at the conference in Barcelona but was rendered inaudible by noisy protests. This year the organisers have asked activists to be more civil and allow those with whom they disagree to be heard.
Although the US has put more money into the fight against HIV/Aids than the rest of the world put together, including $15bn (£8.5bn) pledged by President Bush in January last year, activists are unhappy with the way the money is to be spent. Most of it will go to American-instigated programmes in 15 selected countries which stress the so-called ABC philosophy - abstinence, be faithful and condoms "where appropriate".
Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, said last week that abstinence, particularly for women in southern Africa, was often not an option.
Randall Tobias, the former head of the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, who runs the president's plan for Aids relief, heads the US team in Bangkok. Yesterday he said he had "a very large delegation" with him.
The CDC had offered another scientist instead of Dr Bulterys, he said. "It is true that the person who was the author was not part of the delegation but we offered another scientist and they declined," he said.
The significance of the conference was emphasised at the opening ceremony by Joep Lange, president of the International Aids Society. The Bangkok event is the first in the Aids-hit developing world since the conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2000.
"Durban was a watershed event that catalysed many developments," he said. Prices of Aids drugs came down, fundraising was stepped up and there are now plans to put millions on treatment.
"Like Durban, Bangkok could be a watershed event," he said. "The conference is strategically located in Asia, the most populous continent in the world and home to a quarter of all new HIV infections. Asia still has the opportunity to prevent the epidemic from getting completely out of hand."
Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, called for leadership from all parts of governments, all the way to the top, which has not been seen in all Asian countries, just as African leaders took years to recognise the crisis and speak out against stigma. "Aids is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself," he said.
Leadership was one of three priorities he defined. He also called for infrastructure to be scaled up in Aids-hit countries to allow more people to be treated and he called for a better deal for women who are unable to defend themselves against unsafe sex because of poverty, abuse, violence and coercion by older men. "What is needed is the education of girls," he said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/stor...1259156,00.html |
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| occrider |
While I agree that abstinence faith based preventions initiatives are a waste of money, this AIDS uproar is overblown and Chirac and Annan should not be talking. The US is spending $2.4 billion on AIDS this year alone ... more than twice what the rest of the world is spending combined. Of that $2.4 billion, we are contributing $360,000,000 to the global fund for fy 2004. We actually pledged $546,000,000 but we have contribution caps that prevent us for contributing more than 33% of the fund to encourage donations from the rest of the world. In total we've pledged almost $2 billion to the globalfund alone compared to France's $668 million. Alright, on top of that we have about $2 billion going towards aids outside of global fund. Let's say that all the money going towards prevention is wasted (although the ABC program does include condoms so it's somewhat useful, just not as effective as it could be) ... so, 20% of $2 billion means we're contributing $1.6 billion outside of the global fund. How much are other countries contributing outside of the global fund? Certainly some of the money could be spent wiser but Chirac should shut his pie hole, and Annan is smoking crack if he thinks the US should contribute $1 billion this year to the fund.
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/fil...ntributions.xls |
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| NeoPhono |
| quote: | Originally posted by emander
Signs show AIDS now spreading to China. If they hit infected rates from most African countries, then god help us because it will be unstoppable unless a true preventative cure can be discovered.:( |
There is a preventative cure...it's called don't f*ck someone with AIDS. |
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| ZinG |
| quote: | Originally posted by NeoPhono
There is a preventative cure...it's called don't f*ck someone with AIDS. |
Yes Neo, Africans will understand it perfectly:p |
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