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Gates Foundation to develop oral pills to prevent HIV transmission
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Toronto, Aug 15. (UNI) The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is developing a microbicide or oral preventive drug that can block the transmission of HIV, thereby revolutionising the fight against the dreaded disease, which has affected more than 40 million people worldwide, Mr William Gates and Ms Melinda Gates announced at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference.
Delivering the keynote address on the theme 'Time To Deliver', Ms Gates said the Foundation is also focusing on developing a vaccine against HIV/AIDS and for this a series of grants have been made available and a number of probable vaccine candidates are being being evaluated for their effectivness.
Adequate funds are being provided to facilitate the development of these microbicides, as they could play a crucial role in preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS from infected people. Sixteen probable microbicides are being tested at present of which five are major, she said.
She also called for Governments to become liberal in allowing trial and testing of probable AIDS Drugs and Vaccines.
Mr Gates informed that the Foundation donated 500 million dollars to the Global Fund on HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis last week, as the latter has emerged as a fast and futuristic vehicle in the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Asserting that the goal of universal accessibility of treatment was a priority, Mr Gates said treatment without prevention was unsustainable, as with 40 million HIV/AIDS infected people the annual cost of providing treatment to all would be 13 billion dollars.
Pointing out that poor women in rural areas who are most vulnerable to the infection have no power to decide their fate, he said the power to prevent HIV infection needs to be given to these unfortunate women and sex workers.
Women suffering from HIV/AIDS are subjected to stigma and discrimination and hence should be given more priority, while men should cooperate in this regard and be more responsible, he added.
Speaking on 'AIDS- The Next 25 Years: From Crisis to a Sustained Strategy,' Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS said an exceptional crisis like AIDS needs an exceptional response. Though effective preventive measures and growing access to treatment has given results in terms of lives saved, there is a need to develope a long term sustainable response to deal with HIV/AIDS epidemic, he stressed.
He asked the global leaders to make efforts to bring AIDS on the political agenda, normalise it as a disease to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with it. Dr Piot said it should be ensured that no credible AIDS plan goes unfunded and the care and treatment should be universally accessible.
Dr Piot said for all this a major challenge is the sustained funding and making the money work in strengthening the capacity of the vulnerable groups like Men who have sex with men, drug users and sex workers.
Funding for the development of oral microbicidal AIDS preventive drugs and a vaccine should be increased and a mechanism should be developed for making the life saving drugs universally accessible to HIV positive persons and AIDS patients.
Ms Frika Chia Iskandair, a 25 year old women from Indonesia and suffering from HIV/AIDS, highlighted the need for 'Time to Deliver' the promises and commitments made by global leaders and governments of various countries.
Pointing out the difficulties in accessing the treatment facilities, she said HIV/AIDS patients need to be empowered, so that they could fight stigma and discrimination and demand their right to life with dignity. She also called for associating PLWHA with the care, treatment and prevention strategies.
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