Rock Star to Take O'Neill on AIDS Trip

A most unlikely project to emerge from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York last weekend is a joint trip planned next month to Africa by Paul O'Neill, the US Treasury secretary, and his new-found friend Bono, the Irish rock star. Bono plans to show O'Neill first-hand the devastation that AIDS and other diseases are causing across the continent.

The trip will underscore increasing efforts by health experts and activists -- notably Bill Gates, head of Microsoft -- to push the United States and other governments to do more to fight fatal diseases such as AIDS, malaria and TB, which claim millions of lives in poor countries every year. At WEF there was a growing recognition by policymakers and business leaders that a significant impact could be made through relatively low-cost and low-tech health awareness and vaccine programs.

"A hundred and thirty million children are born every year but 30 million of them have no access to immunization," said Jacques-Francois Martin, a former pharmaceutical industry executive who runs the Vaccine Fund, supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "Three million of those children will die who could have been saved by vaccines that already exist. For less than $1 billion a year [$30 per child] these children could be saved -- by governments and NGOs and the private sector," Martin said.

A key factor is the cost of drugs. Merck CEO Ray Gilmartin told the forum that Merck was now selling antiretroviral AIDS drugs in 43 developing countries at prices that yielded no profit, but that the industry could do more. Bill Gates and other campaigners emphasized that the main responsibility lies with governments of rich countries, especially the United States.

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