U.S. Health Chief Says
World Losing AIDS Fight

The world is losing the war on HIV/AIDS and must do more to halt the pandemic, U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said marking World AIDS day in Zambia, one of the worst-hit nations.

"We appear to be losing the fight against AIDS at the moment. We need to redouble our efforts. This war has more casualties than any other war as we are losing three million people every year," Thompson said.

But there were glimmers of hope with a new U.N. plan set to roll drug treatment out to sufferers in the Third World.

"The WHO (World Health Organization) has pre-qualified a single pill... a simplified regimen which 20 countries will begin to use within the next six months. This will reduce the costs of AIDS drugs (per patient) to $300 a year," said WHO Director General Jong-Wook Lee.

About one in five adults in Zambia has HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, making it one of the worst affected countries in southern Africa, the epicenter of the pandemic.

The disease is devastating families, communities and economies across sub-Saharan Africa, which now has an estimated 26.6 million people with HIV/AIDS -- more than the rest of the world put together.

"We cannot leave Africa to fight this war alone -- everyone must be involved, this war must be fought by America, the European Union and everybody else," he said in the Victoria Falls tourist town of Livingstone, 375 km (235 miles) southwest of the Zambian capital Lusaka.

"I implore the business community especially to make it possible to garner more resources to help fight this war. The U.S. will take the fight against this war to every corner of the world," Thompson said.

He also pledged U.S. help to reduce transmission of HIV from mothers to children in Africa by at least 15 percent.

President Bush has promised a $15 billion, five-year plan to combat AIDS, especially in Africa.

But he came under fire from opponents and AIDS activists when he asked the House of Representatives, led by his own Republican party, for only $2 billion next year -- $1 billion less than expected for the program.

Bush has insisted he will find the full $15 billion.

Randall Tobias, Coordinator for the U.S. global fund on AIDS, said Washington intended to "... provide care for 10 million people and provide drugs to two million people as we expand the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In early November the U.S. ambassador in Lusaka announced a $350 million aid package over seven years to help fight AIDS and promote development in Zambia, whose struggling copper and cobalt-based economy leaves the country heavily dependent on foreign donors to fund key health programs and fight poverty.

In Livingstone, Thompson signed a five-year deal for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to help HIV care and prevention in Zambia, where lawmakers have recommended castrating child rapists to stem a tide of child rape cases exacerbated by a widespread belief that sex with a minor can cure AIDS.

Reference Source 89

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