china/aids/$200 million/gates/article (Not rated) 1 minute ago Gates foundation $200M more for AIDS. (1 Rating) 16-Aug-06 11:52 am This is in addition to the $787 million already pledged ...
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Bill Gates to China: Will $200M help?
Aug. 16, 2006. 12:56 AM
RICK WESTHEAD
STAFF REPORTER
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is close to reaching a landmark agreement to start an AIDS initiative in China that's worth $200 million (U.S.), the Toronto Star has learned.
While UNAIDS estimates 650,000 Chinese are said to be infected with HIV — India and South Africa alone combine for more than 10 million cases — infectious disease experts say conditions are perfect in China for the disease to spread.
The communist Chinese government for years denied the existence of AIDS within its borders and many doctors have refused to diagnose it. The government also tried to cover up an outbreak of HIV in central China that was caused by a tainted blood-selling program.
But more recently, President Hu Jintao has visited AIDS patients in hospitals and has gone on the offence against infectious diseases.
The Gates Foundation has become one of the world's most influential philanthropies. Headed by Gates, the world's richest man, and his wife, the foundation is the world's largest with assets of more than $30 billion.
This summer, billionaire Warren Buffett pledged to give much of his fortune to Gates's foundation, effectively doubling its spending power.
Carmine Bozzi, a Gates Foundation official who has led talks with the Chinese government, confirmed yesterday that the foundation and the Chinese are in final-stage talks to sign a memorandum of understanding.
"The big problem in China is IV (intravenous) drug use," Bozzi said, adding that the Gates program would largely be based in urban centres.
While Bozzi declined to share specific details about the size of the Gates' prospective investment in China, officials with other nongovernmental organizations said it would total close to $200 million over five years.
The donation would be similar in size to the Gates Foundation's project in India, where the group Avahan — which means "call to action" — is promoting condom use, heightening awareness of high-risk sexual behaviour and improving the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
China's infection rate is low, at about 0.1 per cent, but the virus is spreading fast. Last year, there were 70,000 new HIV infections in China, according to UN statistics.
"What's scary about China is how quickly the disease could spread there," said Joe Amon, head of the AIDS program with the aid agency Human Rights Watch.
"If you have 1 million people infected and perhaps another 25 million people in high-risk situations — sex-trade workers, IV drug users and gay men — and no education program, how fast could it spread?"
Amon said the AIDS situation in China is comparable to some jurisdictions in Russia, where, due to drug users sharing dirty needles, infection rates have spiked to 50 per cent from 2 per cent in just two years.
Amon said that while the Gates Foundation is dealing with China's health ministry, ultimately the justice ministry will likely determine the program's success.
"They are going to control access to IV drug users and other high-risk groups."
China has also accepted a $95 million (U.S.) grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to launch a drug program that would provide free anti-retrovirals.
A year ago it allowed the Clinton Foundation, organized by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, to establish a toehold in the country. Clinton's group signed a deal with Mchem Pharma Group of Xiamen to provide low-cost chemical ingredients to companies that make generic AIDS drugs in India and Africa.
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yalegrad97 posted the above earlier today on yahoo. note the article was published today.
AI
