A cost-effective way to fight cancer in Africa and South America Build on Bush?s anti-AIDS efforts

One of the world?s largest foreign aid organizations just announced it will be forced to make substantial program cuts next year. For hundreds of thousands of people, the consequences could be lethal.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced in late November that it had failed to raise the minimum $13 billion needed to support current operations. This is terrible news ? fully 70% of anti-retroviral HIV/AIDS drugs available in poor countries are provided by the fund.

It?s up to the rest of the international community to pick up the slack. Given the uncertain economic climate, it?s all the more important that we are focusing our energies and dollars on programs that will work, sharing resources and maximizing the synergies across disease-specific infrastructures. Fortunately, a large-scale model of an effective program already exists ? and it was started right here in the United States.

The President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was created by the George W. Bush administration and extended by President Obama. PEPFAR has proven highly successful in addressing the global AIDS epidemic by expanding the use and availability of topflight anti-retroviral drugs.

After the global HIV/AIDS rate of new infections exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, experts were predicting the disease would kill off entire generations of people in poorer countries. PEPFAR was a cornerstone in the international effort to check the spread of the epidemic. Program officials, making a concerted effort not to trample local medical operations, worked in conjunction with state and municipal authorities to build up medical infrastructure and address the health care challenges specific to local communities. PEPFAR also worked closely with the Global Fund to jointly fund targeted anti-retroviral distribution campaigns in areas worst hit by this disease.

In large part because of PEPFAR, the total number of people living with AIDS has essentially held steady over the past decade, rather than escalating out of control as credible estimates predicted. Today, 33 million people have the disease. Meanwhile, the rate of new HIV infections has dropped by nearly 20% and an estimated 7 million people with HIV infections are currently alive because they now have access to anti-retroviral drugs.

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/tech_guide/~3/MnjfVajzZE0/a-cost-effective-fight-cancer-africa-south-america-article-1.997556

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