Bush claims progress against AIDS in Africa
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President George W. Bush claimed progress on Thursday in the battle against AIDS in Africa, saying U.S. efforts were helping 400,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa get treatment. Bush said the U.S.-backed Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was helping provide medical treatment in Uganda, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia.
“These countries, and many others, are fighting for the lives of their citizens, and America is now their strongest partner in that fight,” he said at an event marking World AIDS Day.
The 400,000 figure, said Bush, was up from 50,000 getting treatment two years ago.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains hardest hit. The region has just over 10 percent of the world’s population, but more than 60 percent of all people infected with HIV.
A lobby group called Africa Action complained that treatment was not being delivered quickly or broadly enough to save millions of lives in Africa and targeted pharmaceutical companies.
“In Africa, where more than 25 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, access to anti-retroviral treatment is a matter of life and death,” said Salih Booker, Africa Action’s executive director.
“But the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies, and the policies pursued by rich countries at their behest, continue to keep life-saving treatment out of reach for those most affected by HIV/AIDS,” Booker said.
Bush promised in 2003 the United States would provide $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. AIDS groups complain that less than half the money has been appropriated so far, while the White House said the program is on track.
Bush announced what he called a New Partners Initiative aimed at getting faith-based and community organizations that provide health care in the developing world to try to reach more afflicted people with care.
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