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News/Event Item
Desmond Tutu: Obama’s Overdue AIDS Bill
July 20, 2010
By Desmond Tutu
Having met President Obama, I’m confident that he’s a man of conscience who shares my commitment to bringing hope and care to the world’s poor. But I am saddened by his decision to spend less than he promised to treat AIDS patients in Africa.
George W. Bush made an impressive commitment to the international fight against AIDS when he formed the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program. Since 2004, Pepfar has spent $19 billion to help distribute anti-viral treatments to about 2.5 million Africans infected with H.I.V.
Thanks to these efforts — and similar initiatives, like those spearheaded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — the number of African patients with access to AIDS drugs jumped tenfold from 2003 to 2008. Since 2004, the AIDS-related mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa has dropped 18 percent.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
For full article, visit
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/opinion/21tutu.htm
category: News from Other Sources : AIDS News
contributed by Winnie Mutch on 21 July 2010
Africa :
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