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US lauds India's success in AIDS battle
US President George W Bush commends India's efforts in fighting AIDS successfully.
As US President George W Bush renewed a pledge to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, the White House commended "some very successful programmes in India" with a significant increase in resources.
"The pandemic of HIV/AIDS can be defeated" through international cooperative efforts such as his President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), said Bush on the eve of World AIDS Day.
"We continue to fund research and develop new methods of treatment and prevention," he said on Friday, referring to PEPFAR's five-year, $15 billion commitment to fight the disease.
Meanwhile, US Global AIDS Coordinator, Mark Dybul, noted at a White House briefing on Bush's AIDS relief plan that "UNAIDS just revised the numbers and actually revised the number downward in India by about half."
"There are some very successful programmes in India," as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has significantly increased resources for fighting HIV/AIDS, he said.
"The US government is a privileged partner with India in their fight; we work in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. And in Tamil Nadu, actually, we've seen a significant decline in HIV infection over time, so there is a response. But the infection is less than we thought because some better evaluation was done," Dybul said.
HIV is still the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa, he said, citing Bush's statement that the Americans are supporting 1.36 million people receiving antiretroviral therapy, and care for 6.7 million people, including 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children.
"Staggering numbers when you think that only a few years ago only 50,000 people in all of sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment. It would be tough to say that the diseased has been "conquered. But the tide is turning, and that's the important thing," Dybul said.
"As President Bush has said, we talk about a big success - and it is - but we're only starting. And that's why he called on Congress to support the next phase, the $30 billion for the next five years."
Education and medicine both played a part, Dybul said, describing the fight against HIV/AIDS as "the largest international health initiative in history dedicated to a single disease" with about 46 per cent going for treatment and about 29 per cent going for prevention.
"But you need the care and treatment as well, and the care is for orphans and vulnerable children, and also people living with HIV/AIDS. So it's prevention, care and treatment," Dybul added.
