USAID on Friday announced that the United States has pledged more than $3 million to fund a South African satellite television channel to educate viewers about HIV/AIDS, the SAPA/Mail & Guardian reports. The channel is scheduled to be launched later this year and broadcast to all 4,000 public health institutions in the country, according to the SAPA/Mail & Guardian. USAID Deputy Administrator Frederick Schieck said, "I'm sure people will learn something; that they will always want to watch [the channel]." The funding for the channel comes from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (SAPA/Mail & Guardian, 4/2). The plan details the Bush administration's five-year, $15 billion global AIDS initiative, which seeks to prevent seven million new HIV infections, provide care for 10 million people living with the disease and provide treatment to two million HIV-positive people living in 14 African and Caribbean countries (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/25).

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