To Fight AIDS, US Should Pay Fair Share
Remember when AIDS was a definite death sentence and nothing could be done? We are in sight of the end of AIDS, an epidemic that has killed 30 million people.
The replenishment conference for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will be held in the United States on Dec. 3. Donor nations will look to America for leadership. U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee has called for an American pledge of $5 billion over three years. That means all the nations of the world would provide a total of $15 billion over three years.
As she said in a recent piece: The promise of an AIDS-free generation is within our grasp, but the world must come together to achieve it. Some countries with the highest rates of new HIV infections have seen dramatic cuts since 2001 -- 73 percent in Malawi, 71 percent in Botswana, 58 percent in Zambia, 41 percent in South Africa.
Tuberculosis mortality has decreased significantly, and success rates climb. As for malaria, the world has seen an impressive reduction of deaths due to insecticide-treated bed nets. However, the reduction has not been maintained when the nets were not replaced.
If we do not maintain momentum of treatment and research, infection rates on all three diseases will go back up, and the cost to control resurgence may not be affordable. Please urge your Congress member to support $5 billion over three years as America's fair share in this December's Global Fund Donor Replenishment conference.
To read this letter in its original format, go here.