US pledges $80m towards AIDS fight

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of the US has pledged an additional $80 million to support innovative approaches that would ensure HIV-positive pregnant women get the treatment they need to protect themselves and their partners.

She said there was the need for the world to have an AIDS-Free Generation, which required  that critical needs of people living with HIV, including women, orphans and vulnerable children, and key populations at high-risk of contracting HIV, were addressed.

US Secretary Clinton made the call when she addressed the opening plenary session of the ongoing 19th World AIDS Conference here in Washington D.C.

“An AIDS-free generation entails that first, no one will be born with the virus; second, that as people get older, they will be at a far lower risk of becoming infected than they are today; and third, that if they do acquire HIV, they will get treatment that keeps them healthy and prevents them from transmitting the virus to others”, she said.

The Conference is on the theme “Ending the Pandemic: Turning the Tide Together” and for the first time in 22 years, the United States of America is hosting the 19th International Conference on AIDS after the Obama administration lifted the travel ban of HIV persons.

According to the Centre for Disease Control, more than one million people are living with the HIV as at 2008 representing seven per cent from the previous estimate of one percent in 2006. Statistics also show that 48,000 persons were infected with the HIV virus in 2009.

Source: GNA