The Nation's Health Web exclusive

United States focusing more attention on global AIDS threat
The countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic will receive more support through a new measure signed by President Clinton in late August.

The bill creates a World Bank AIDS Trust Fund to provide grants for AIDS prevention, care and education in countries where the disease has taken the largest toll. It also authorizes 2001 funding for the Clinton administration's global AIDS initiatives and measures to fight tuberculosis. Congress passed the bill in July.

The measure authorizes $300 million for the U.S. Agency for International Development to put together such assistance programs as voluntary testing and counseling, prevention education and care for those living with AIDS or HIV. The bill also authorizes $50 million for the new Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and $60 million for tuberculosis control.

Also in August, Clinton named Sandra Thurman as presidential envoy for AIDS cooperation. She is the first U.S. envoy to deal exclusively with a global health issue.

Thurman retains her post as director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

Clinton said Thurman would "use America's growing efforts as leverage to encourage other countries to expand financial commitments, to step up prevention efforts and to increase access to care and treatment worldwide."

The increased money and attention is needed, Clinton administration officials say, because AIDS continues to be a major public health threat, especially in developing countries. Administration officials noted that:
o AIDS killed 2.8 million people worldwide in 1999 and is now the single leading case of death in Africa.
o In Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, half of all 15-year-olds will die of AIDS.
o Thirteen million sub-Saharan African children have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS, and the number will reach 40 million by the end of the decade.
o tuberculosis is the single worst infectious disease killer of adults worldwide and is the leading cause of death of people with AIDS.

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