Fighting AIDS a High Priority; US Official Vows "Passionate" Effort

The 14th International Conference on AIDS opened Sunday with more grim news, a record 17,000 delegates and a top-level presence from the US government. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson leads the US delegation, which includes officials from his department, the State Department and the US Agency for International Development. Thompson is the only cabinet-level official to have attended an overseas AIDS conference.

"No administration in any nation has ever made fighting HIV/AIDS as high a priority as this administration," he said, calling HIV "one of the most significant problems to face our world in this, or any other, time." Several times, Thompson noted that "the US government, alone, now accounts for more than 40 percent of donor assistance spent on HIV/AIDS in the world." But Britain has called for all wealthy nations to donate 0.7 percent of their gross national product (GNP) to fight AIDS. The current US commitment is only 0.01 percent of its GNP, putting its contribution behind the other 20 wealthiest nations.

The White House has announced a $500 million fund to fight mother-to-child HIV transmission in Africa and the Caribbean. But this sparked criticism because the money will not go to the Global AIDS Fund, and its emphasis on saving babies seems to exclude treating their parents. "We intend to treat the mothers," Thompson said adamantly. He said that while building infrastructures to deliver medicines is a long-term goal, few poor nations are ready to administer such efforts. The short-term goal, therefore, is to save babies through single doses of nevirapine at delivery.

At the opening night ceremony, speakers urged the crowd to end 20 years of bickering and unite in a call for a worldwide response to HIV/AIDS. "We did not come to Barcelona to renegotiate promises. We are here to ignite leadership, to keep the promise," said UNAIDS Director Dr. Peter Piot.

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