Title: French-led therapy fund kicks off in Africa.

POPLINE Document Number: 142252

Author(s):

Balter M

Source citation:

SCIENCE, 1999 May 14;284(5417):1101.

Abstract:

The antiviral drugs used to treat HIV infection successfully in developed countries are priced out of the reach of most infected individuals in the most effected areas of the world. To reduce this global inequity, in 1997 the Minister of Health and the President of France created the Fund for International Therapeutic Solidarity to subsidize the cost of anti-HIV therapies in developing countries. The Fund's first project will be to provide about $1.7 million over 4 years to help prevent maternal-child transmission of HIV in the Ivory Coast. To date, the only contribution to the fund has been $4 million in seed money donated by France. There is hope for an additional $3.3 million from the European Commission, and talks are underway with the World Bank. The Ivory Coast project will subsidize "bitherapy" for 500 patients and will support testing and therapeutic follow-up for 20,000 pregnant women and their families in Abidjan. The women who test positive for HIV will be offered a "short course" of antiviral drugs to prevent maternal-child transmission, and mothers in advanced states of HIV will be offered triple therapy. Health officials in the Ivory Coast welcome the project but point out that it will have only a small effect. UNAIDS officials counter that it is better to begin than to wait until the perfect intervention is available. Meanwhile, other African nations are seeking assistance from the Fund, and new programs will soon start in Uganda and Morocco.

Keywords:

France
Africa
Foreign Aid
Funds
HIV Infections
Treatment
Drugs
Europe, Western
Europe
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Financial Activities
Economic Factors
Viral Diseases
Diseases