Historic Worldwide AIDS Plan Unveiled

The World Health Organization in Geneva Sunday unveiled a historic plan to treat 3 million impoverished AIDS sufferers by the end of 2005.

The World Health Organization in Geneva Sunday unveiled a historic plan to treat 3 million impoverished AIDS sufferers by the end of 2005. It took officials two years to come up with the plan known as the “3 By 5 Initiative,” New York’s Newsday reported. Plans involve getting anti-HIV drugs to infected people in poor countries who need immediate treatment, at a cost of $5.5 billion, Newsday said. Dr. Lee Jong-wook, WHO director-general, left Sunday to visit six African nations with an 80-member delegation led by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. “Essentially, it is clear that it is unacceptable for 8,000 people to die every day from a preventable and treatable disease,” Charles Gilks, WHO’s 3 By 5 Initiative director, told the Geneva news conference. The United Nations says 40 million people have AIDS and it has killed an estimated 25 million worldwide. What is also alarming is that the numbers are still steadily increasing not decreasing meaning that somewhere or somehow the message isn’t getting across. (Sources: MEDline Plus Health News, United Press International December 2003)