Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - Tuesday, 26 June 2001
Rodolfo A. Windhausen
The study will be conducted over 18 months in collaboration with the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the U.N.'s Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Uganda AIDS Commission, officials said Tuesday.
Uganda is among the leading nations in reducing HIV infection. The study will identify best practices in several districts throughout the country that could be expanded within Uganda and adopted by other countries.
Hank McKinnell, president of the Pfizer Foundation and chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said, "By rigorously identifying effective HIV/AIDS preventive programs in Uganda, we will be able to make these learnings available worldwide. This approach is an outstanding example of a public/private partnership addressing a complex global health issue."
Pharmaceutical companies have been under increasing pressure to lower the price of anti-AIDS drugs, and are negotiating price reductions with a number of governments. On Monday, UNAIDS announced that five major research-based companies are working with U.N. agencies to speed up access to care for people with HIV/AIDS.
Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, said in a statement that HIV infection "must be attacked on multiple fronts. This study will determine what approaches in prevention are proving the most effective, especially at the community level. The outcome of this study will be to identify and hopefully expand best practices."
The $315,000 study is the second major initiative by Pfizer in Uganda in the past three weeks.
Earlier this month, the foundation announced that it is funding construction and staffing of a state-of-the-art AIDS clinic in Kampala that will treat more than 50,000 patients annually and provide training to African health care professionals for the diagnosis, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.
The company also had announced in June that it would offer its antifungal Diflucan at no charge to AIDS patients in the 50 least developed countries, including Uganda, as identified by the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
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