Long Island Newsday Chronicles Progress in Fight Against AIDS in 2003
After more than two decades since the first HIV cases appeared, governments and international agencies in 2003 took "bold steps" to provide treatment for people in developing nations, Long Island Newsday reports. The escalation of treatment programs was due in part to the efforts of the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, which secured a deal with generic drug manufacturers that will reduce the cost of commonly used three-drug regimens to less than $200 per patient annually. In addition, President Bush last year announced a five-year, $15 billion program to fight AIDS in 14 developing countries. Although Congress has not yet allocated the funds, the State Department is taking applications for companies, nongovernmental organizations and others to manage drug delivery and prevention programs and say they plan to have the program operating by the spring (Garrett, Long Island Newsday, 12/28/2003). The complete article is available online.
Media Coverage
The following are summaries of recent broadcast features on HIV/AIDS:
- NPR's "All Things Considered" on Jan. 1 profiled the HIV/AIDS prevention program at the Church of Our Lady of Africa in Kampala, Uganda (Wilson, "All Things Considered," NPR, 1/1). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
- NPR's "Morning Edition" on Dec. 29 profiled a pilot antiretroviral drug distribution program in Lusikisiki, South Africa, which could serve as a model for the country's national HIV/AIDS treatment program. The segment includes comments from Dr. Herman Reuter, a physician with Medecins Sans Frontieres who established the program (Beaubien, "Morning Edition," 12/29/03). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
- NPR's "Talk of the Nation" on Dec. 31 examined HIV/AIDS in Africa as a U.S. foreign policy challenge for 2004. The segment includes comments from Global AIDS Alliance Executive Director Paul Zeitz (Conan, "Talk of the Nation," NPR, 12/31/03). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
- NPR's "Tavis Smiley Show" on Jan. 2 featured an interview with Judith Auerbach, vice president of public policy for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Auerbach discusses new research on methods to prevent HIV/AIDS, including vaccines and prescribing antiretroviral drugs for HIV-negative individuals (Cox, "Tavis Smiley Show," NPR, 1/2). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
- PRI's "The World" on Dec. 31 interviewed Medecins San Frontieres-USA Executive Director Nicolas de Torrente about the group's list of the 10 most underreported humanitarian stories of 2003. According to de Torrente, HIV/AIDS did not make the list in 2003 because of increased attention to the pandemic (Mullins, "The World," PRI, 12/31/03). The complete segment is available online in Windows Media.