World Could Eliminate Polio by 2005 But Losing Battle Against HIV/AIDS, HHS Secretary Says
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Thursday at a news conference in New Dehli, India, said that the world could eliminate polio by 2005, but the global community is losing the battle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Thompson said that in the fight against polio, "We're probably down to the last 1,000 cases, probably the most difficult to eradicate," but he added that "[w]e are losing th[e] war" against HIV/AIDS. According to Thompson, who serves as chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, 8,500 people die each day from AIDS-related complications, which he said is "the same as 40 jumbo airliners crashing every day." In addition, 14,000 people develop AIDS every day, he said, according to the AP/Journal-Constitution (Keys, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/8).
Gates on '60 Minutes'
CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday will include an interview with Microsoft Chair Bill Gates about his foundation's donations to HIV/AIDS prevention programs in India (Simon, "60 Minutes," CBS, 4/11). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged a total of $200 million to combat HIV/AIDS in India, where approximately 4.6 million people are living with the disease (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/16). Gates in the interview says that India is "on the brink of success and one of the only things that stands in the way of that ... is making sure that there's not a widespread AIDS epidemic." The segment also includes comments from Dr. Suniti Solomon, who established one of India's first AIDS hospitals ("60 Minutes," CBS, 4/11). "60 Minutes" airs Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Video of the segment in RealPlayer will be available online after the broadcast.
Additional information on HIV/AIDS in India is available online at kaisernetwork.org, including a kaisernetwork.org video feature on India and facts about the epidemic in India with links to other sources of information.