Row over Obama's Aids strategy

As UNAIDS calls for a re-shaping of the campaign against HIV/Aids in the developing world, President Obama is under attack for under-funding the effort both in poor countries and at home.

THE GUARDIAN - July 13, 2010
By: Sarah Boseley

Michel Sidibe, head of UNAIDS, said we are at "a defining moment" in the response to HIV/Aids in an interview with me this morning. He was talking about the need to re-shape the campaign, as he put it, in the face of rising numbers of people getting infected and economic recession. It has to be about prevention - and UNAIDS has released some very hopeful data on HIV prevalence falling among young people as they adopt safer sexual practices - although we also need a cheaper, simplified treatment regime. Putting people on treatment, of course, also has a preventive effect, by making them less infectious.

But all the problems of HIV in the developing world are mirrored in the richest nation on the planet. Simmering discontent over President Obama's decision to flat-line Aids funding for poor countries may be turning into something more explosive. Today, the administration is unveiling its strategy against Aids in the USA. The document was leaked to the New York Times, which published a story yesterday. There will be no more money - instead what there is will be redirected to the most at-risk groups. Aids campaigners in the US say it is far from good enough.

Shockingly, there are people with HIV who are waiting for treatment in the US, just as there are in the developing world. This is from a statement by the Aids Healthcare Foundation:

As of July 9th, there were 2,291 people on waiting lists in 12 states including 605 in Florida—which has the third highest incidence of AIDS in the nation—and which only started its wait list June 1st.

Regarding the 2,200 Americans on waiting lists to receive lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications through the nation's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP): In an effort to address the crisis, Senators Burr, Coburn and Enzi introduced S. 3401, the ACCESS ADAP Act, a bill which provides $126 million in unobligated stimulus funds to eliminate waiting lists through Fiscal Year 2010. The bill failed to gain the support of the Administration or Congress. The $126 million was a number provided by state AIDS directors as the amount of additional federal funding required to meet current program needs given the number of people on waiting lists, expected number of new patients and budget cuts per state.

The AHF, the largest global Aids organisation, has Obama in its sights over his Aids policy at home and abroad. George Bush, it is beginning to be muttered, did better. Here is an advert the AHF is going to be putting out, comparing the two. No guesses for who is likely to come off worse.

The International Aids conference begins in Vienna on Sunday. There is much to talk about. I think there's every chance it will be heated.

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