Obama announces more resources for AIDS fight
December 2nd, 2011 - 12:00 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, Dec 2 (IANS/EFE) President Barack Obama Thursday renewed the US government’s commitment to the worldwide fight against AIDS by announcing the allocation of more resources and the establishment of new objectives to combat the disease.
“We can beat this disease. We can win this fight. We just have to keep at it, steady, persistent - today, tomorrow, every day until we get to zero,” the president said in a speech at George Washington University on World AIDS Day.
When the pandemic began in the 1980s, Obama said, “few could have imagined that we’d be talking about the real possibility of an AIDS-free generation. But that’s what we’re talking about. That’s why we’re here. And we arrived here because of all of you and your unwavering belief that we can - and we will - beat this disease”.
According to the latest UN figures, at the end of last year there were 34 million people worldwide carrying the HIV virus that causes AIDS, 17 percent more than in 2001.
At the event, in which former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush participated by videoconference, Obama announced new objectives in the struggle, including increasing in two years from 4 million to 6 million the number of people receiving treatment for the disease around the world.
Also, the US government will try to ensure that medication against the HIV virus reaches 1.5 million HIV-positive pregnant women around the world to prevent transmission of the virus to their unborn children.
Also, in the next two years, authorities will try to distribute more than 1 billion condoms in developing countries.
The US government will also allocate an additional $50 million to the fight against AIDS in the US, where about 1.2 million people are carriers of HIV and where around 16,000 people died of AIDS-related causes between 2006 and 2009.
The new initiatives are part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launched by George W. Bush in 2003 and initially funded with $15 billion.
The US Congress in 2008 approved increasing the funding for the programme to $48 billion.
–IANS/EFE
rd
- Obama presents budget plan - Feb 14, 2012
- Obama announces end to HIV entry ban - Oct 31, 2009
- Cricketers to sport red ribbons on World AIDS Day - Nov 29, 2010
- Obama gets Hollywood backing at star-studded event - May 12, 2012
- US deported 396,000 in 2011 fiscal year - Oct 19, 2011
- Hundreds in northeast pledge fight against HIV - Dec 01, 2010
- US insurers will have to pay for birth control - Aug 02, 2011
- US approves new HIV treatment - May 21, 2011
- Dip in AIDS deaths: UN report (Dec 1 is World AIDS Day) - Nov 30, 2011
- US Senate confirms Petraeus to lead CIA - Jul 01, 2011
- 50 pc drop in HIV cases in India in 10 years: UN - Nov 23, 2010
- Bono hails Bush's US AIDS funding program for saving millions of lives - Dec 02, 2010
- India undeterred by global donors' pullout for AIDS control (Dec 1 is World AIDS Day) - Nov 30, 2011
- Scale up services for pregnant HIV-positive: UNAIDS - Apr 26, 2012
- Red Ribbon Symbolizing World AIDS Day 2009 Adorns White House - Dec 01, 2009
Tags: 50 million, aids fight, aids relief, barack obama, condoms, efe, emergency plan, former presidents, free generation, george w bush, george washington university, hiv virus, pandemic, pregnant women, today tomorrow, unborn children, unwavering belief, women around the world, world aids day, worldwide fight