Brazil To Assist World Health Organization in Development of New AIDS Plan
Brazil's AIDS program director Paulo Teixeira yesterday announced that World Health Organization Director-General-elect Jong Wook Lee at the WHO annual assembly in Geneva asked him to assist in the development of the health agency's five-year antiretroviral treatment strategy, Reuters reports (Reuters, 5/20). While meeting with Brazilian Health Minister Humberto Costa, Lee asked Teixeira to help the organization draft a plan modeled on Brazil's national AIDS treatment program (Xinhua News Agency, 5/21). "The idea is to use Brazil's experience in the design of [its] program, particularly the integration of prevention, treatment and human rights," Teixeira said. Brazil has become a "model for the developing world" through its universal provision of free antiretroviral drugs, according to Reuters (Reuters, 5/20). The country negotiates discounted pricing for the drugs or, if unable to negotiate a satisfactory price, begins local production of generic copies of the drugs (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/15).
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