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Date Posted: 19:20:36 07/24/02 Wed
Author: moonotter
Subject: Protesters Blast US Over AIDS Funding

Protesters Blast US Over AIDS Funding


Reuters Health Information 2002. © 2002 Reuters Ltd.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.


BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) Jul 09 - Protesters stormed the stage and shouted down the US health secretary Tuesday as he addressed the world's biggest conference on AIDS, which has highlighted a gulf in access to treatment between rich and poor.
Some 30 AIDS activists rushed forward as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson got up to speak, while dozens more drowned out his words with chants and whistles.

The protesters' action was to press accusations that Washington was failing people with AIDS by not committing more money to a new international global fund against the disease. Thompson, surrounded by a gaggle of bodyguards, continued to deliver his speech unheard.

The week-long meeting, attended by 15,000 delegates, has thrown into sharp relief the difference in prospects for those in Western countries and those in the developing world who are infected with HIV. Those in the poorer group account for 95% of infections.

The UN's Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, created in 2001, aims to bridge the gap between treatment and prevention--but has so far won commitments from governments of only $2.8 billion, against the $10 billion it needs each year.

In a prepared text of his speech, Thompson said the United States was leading the world in its support for the fund by committing $500 million, but activists said $300 million was "stolen" from other health programs.

The fund's newly appointed executive director, Richard Feachem, told delegates that existing pledges were a start but billions more dollars were needed.

"These commitments will double the current number of people receiving HAART in the developing world and in Africa HAART recipients will increase six-fold," he said. "This is nothing like enough."

Currently, a mere 0.1% of the 28.5 million people infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa get modern drugs, a figure French President Jacques Chirac described as unacceptable in a message to the meeting.

Drug firms unveiled more progress in developing innovative AIDS therapies but anger over the cost of treatments prompted noisy protests and the invasion of company stands at the conference exhibition.

Experts also dampened speculation that the holy grail of an effective vaccine against AIDS could be less than five years away, warning that developing protection against the virus would require more time.

"HIV vaccine development is not a sprint. HIV vaccines need to be developed within the context of a larger prevention effort," Lawrence Corey, principal investigator of the HIV Vaccines Trials Network in the US, told the conference.



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