Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - November 30, 2005
Yet more people will become infected with the HIV virus and die from the disease itself in 2005 than in any previous year, the World Bank said Wednesday.
In light of that, the bank announced on the eve of World AIDS Day a strategic plan to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The main parts of the project are to strengthen the bank's approach to the disease with no-interest lending, grants, analysis, technical support and advice on AIDS policy for poor and middle-income countries, where the disease is hitting hardest.
Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank's president, said the fight against the disease is hampered because national strategic plans "are for the most part not well-devised with clear priorities."
They are lacking in prevention, care and treatment levels and remain "nowhere near equal to slowing down, or stopping, the virus," Wolfowitz said. "Progress continues to be eroded by pitfalls in management and implementation."
The program will emphasize the "Three Ones" approach of fighting AIDS on an international level: in each country, one national HIV/AIDS authority, one national strategic plan and one system to monitor and evaluate the effort's effectiveness.
"At the heart of our strategy is an urgency to prevent new infections and to provide care and treatment for those who are infected and affected by the epidemic," said Debrework Zewdie, director of the World Bank's HIV/AIDS program.
The bank's announcement said the global fight against the disease is profiting from "considerably more political commitment on the part of countries and donors, with the worldwide level of HIV/AIDS funding having surged from $300 million in 1996 to approximately $8 billion in 2005.
The plan aids to keep the World Bank among major financiers of the anti-AIDS effort in poor and middle-income countries. It will ensure that evidence is reliable as to risk, the pattern and rate of spreading and the disease's affect on local areas.
It also will target women, young people and high-risk groups, the plan's outline said.
Project figures show that since the World Bank's first anti-AIDS project in 1988, it has spent more than $2.5 billion fighting the disease. Ten years ago, it was spending $10 million annually in sub-Saharan Africa; in each of the last four years that figure has been $250 million to $300 million a year.
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