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AIDS cure gates still shut
After having pumped in $126 million for AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Bill Gates said there?s "no assured timeline" for AIDS remedy.
For people banking on a vaccine to provide the solution to the challenge of HIV/AIDS, Bill Gates had some bad news. After having pumped in $126 million to rescue the cash-strapped International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Gates was categorical that there’s "no assured timeline" for what many believe to be the magic remedy.
“The AIDS vaccine is not very likely even in ten years. That only highlights the need for prevention,” he said in an interview with HT after announcing the $100 million India AIDS Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At the same time, he expects India to be a leader in the development of the AIDS vaccine and become the centre of “appropriate kind of trials” that adhere to “high ethical standards”.
Prevention, nonetheless, is going to be the driver of the Initiative and Gates said he hoped it would be “successful enough to become a model for the world”. The AIDS Initiative’s plan for the country extends from giving people access to diagnostic tests and condoms to stepping up the treatment and prevention of other sexually transferred diseases, and to “reducing the stigma” attached to people living with HIV/AIDS. “The biggest problem with AIDS is the disease itself,” said Gates.
The crowded day saw Gates in a whirlwind of situations (still, he remembers to pick up a CD of re-mixes of Asha Bhosle numbers, because the diva was coming to thank him on behalf of the country at a function later), but he was focused entirely on HIV/AIDS.
He was bullish about the meeting with the PM. “The Prime Minister was clear in his enthusiasm and his support and it meant a lot to us,” he said.
To a question on whether he had succeeded in inspiring corporate India to take a leaf out of his book, Gates said Indian Oil had already issued a statement of support for the India AIDS Initiative. “We need partners to address the AIDS crisis,” he said. Any takers?
