Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - November 25, 2003
The group of 80 people will visit four hard-hit countries -Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda -and stop over in Cameroon, said Thompson, who also heads the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
Dr. Lee Jong-Wook, the new director-general of the World Health Organization and Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, the organization responsible for coordinating global efforts to fight the disease will join the delegation in Zambia for the AIDS day observance Dec. 1, Thompson said.
The U.S. delegation includes Randall L. Tobias, recently appointed U.S. global AIDS coordinator to oversee the $15 billion in funding over five years proposed by President George W. Bush for assistance against HIV/AIDS, and Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and now president of the Global Business Coalition for HIV/AIDS.
"This is the largest and most diverse single mission of its kind, bringing leaders from across the spectrum to witness what AIDS is doing in Africa and what we can do to help Africa fight back," Thompson said.
He said he was placing special emphasis on raising awareness in the business community to the major problems HIV/AIDS is causing in Africa, where 29 million people are affected, and how to confront them. But he said he would set no targets or suggest how much companies should contribute to combat the disease.
U.N. reports say the world community has made dismal progress in combatting the pandemic since the first AIDS summit two years ago. Failures abound on numerous fronts including expanding access to lifesaving drugs, caring for AIDS orphans and blunting mother-to-child transmissions of the disease.
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