US To Expand Global AIDS Care, Prevention

The US hopes to add a million and a half people to its program for AIDS relief and expand prevention programs, US officials said today at a news conference ahead of World AIDS Day Dec 1.

Under the PEPFAR—president’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief—2.5 million people already get medical care and treatment and the aim is to increase that to 4 million says Ambassador Eric Goosby, the US Global Aids Coordinator at the State Department.

Goosby believes the experience and success gained from the work PREPFAR has initiated over the past 8 years has helped humanitarian actors efficiently manage the funds at their disposal and expand the scope of their work.  He says smalls changes like switching the distribution systems from air to ground transport or cooperating with the FDA to increase the amount of affordable generic drugs available have freed up millions of dollars that can now be better used to carry out  hands-on high impact interventions, such as an aggressive prevention programs.

“Better understanding where the new seroconversions are and then positioning our prevention interventions in front of those expanding movements of the virus through that population is a central piece of every prevention strategy and at the core of all of our prevention programs.” said Goosby.

Fight against AIDS going well, but "far from over"

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said while "fewer are being infected with HIV," there is "no room for complacency" in the fight against AIDS.

In a luncheon presented by UNAIDS, Moon said via webcast that while there have been successes in the fight against HIV/AIDS, it is still one of the "top ten causes of death worldwide" and the leading cause of death in Africa. He felt that the worldwide goal should be to "create a future without AIDS.

President of the UN Foundation and Better World Fund and Former Sen. Timothy Wirth (D-Colo.) felt the issues of AIDS treatment and family planning have "got to be brought together" worldwide. He said that while there are approximately 35 million people with HIV/AIDS in the world, there are almost 200 million couples who want family planning services but cannot get them.

Wirth said the focus of AIDS prevention should be on "adolescent girls in particular." Wirth claimed that over half of all new AIDS infections are women. He said that bringing prevention and treatment to women has been more difficult because anti-women forces have "reared their head." Director of the Washington Office for UNAIDS John Hassell echoed Wirth's statements saying HIV/AIDS is "definitely not a gay disease.

Thembi Nkambule, National Coordinator of the Swaziland National Network of People Living with AIDS, said that while "more people than ever" have access to care, the fight is "far from over." She estimated that in her home country of Swaziland, around 20 percent of the population is infected. She advocated that HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention should be "priorities in the global agenda." "We need to keep people living with HIV alive as long as possible," remarked Nkambule.

Jahnabi Goswani, General Secretary of the India Network of People Living with AIDS, said that HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment should focus on "vulnerable communities" as well as women. She also stated that people with AIDS must be proactive in educating communities because they understand the virus "better than anyone."