New WHO Chief Asks Brazil to Help AIDS Battle

The new head of the World Health Organization would like to use Brazil's free, generic AIDS drug program as a model to help poor nations treat and prevent the disease, the head of Brazil's AIDS program said Tuesday. "The idea is to use Brazil's experience in the design of this program, particularly in the integration of prevention, treatment and human rights," Brazilian AIDS program director Paulo Teixeira said in an interview from the WHO annual assembly in Geneva. Teixeria said WHO Director-General-elect Jong Wook Lee has asked him to help design the UN health agency's AIDS drug treatment strategy for the next five years. The program, which is praised for keeping the illness in check, has become a model for the developing world with the offering of free, universal antiretroviral treatment and the breaking of drug patents when manufacturers refuse to slash prices. WHO's HIV/AIDS strategies are closely monitored by global AIDS programs and widely adopted by developing nations.

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