United Nations, May 29: The head of the joint United Nations programme on HIV/Aids has lauded US President George W Bush for demonstrating "critical leadership" in the fight against Aids by signing of a 15 billion dollar bill to prevent and treat the scourge, while warning that the spendings were still inadequate. "Even with the deployment of the projected new US funds, spending will still be barely one-half of what is required for a baseline level prevention and treatment response by 2005," UNAids chief Peter Piot said.
"The US has recognised that Aids is a significant threat to global development and stability, and is backing up that understanding with a commitment to substantial new resources," he said. The programme is designed to offer a comprehensive prevention and care package that could prevent seven million new infections, treat at least two million people with life-extending drugs, and provide care for millions more suffering from Aids, including children orphaned by the disease.
"Resources carefully spent on scientifically proven interventions can dramatically reduce the toll of HIV/Aids, even where the epidemic is most severe," Piot stated. "For the first time there is a concerted global effort to close the treatment gap that denies life-saving HIV medicines to 95 per cent of the people living with aids around the world. The legislation that effort a vital boost," he said.
Piot, however, said that while spending on HIV/Aids in developing countries has doubled over the past three years, a major gap remains between the need and the resources available to address it. Bureau Report