USIS Washington File - June 14, 2005

President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has marked a "turning point" in the fight against the deadly virus and is exceeding its goals on anti-retroviral treatment, Ambassador Randall Tobias, the U.S. AIDS coordinator, told reporters June 13.

Tobias' briefing at the State Department followed President Bush's discussions on AIDS, trade and debt with five African heads of state at the White House that same day.

Referring to numbers cited by the president, Tobias said as of March 31, the Emergency Plan had supported anti-retroviral treatment for approximately 235,000 men, women and children through bilateral programs in the 15 of the most afflicted countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The annual goal has been exceeded by 35,000, he told his audience.

Of that number, he said, more than 230,000 of those being supported live in sub-Saharan Africa.

For additional information about the president's plan for AIDS relief, see HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases.

Following is the text of Ambassador Tobias' statement, as prepared for delivery:

Ambassador Randall Tobias
United States Global AIDS Coordinator

Opening Remarks at Press Conference on Treatment Results

Press Briefing Room
Department of State
Washington, D.C.

June 13, 2005

Good afternoon. I'm here to discuss the update the President provided earlier today on the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

I'm grateful to the State Department for hosting today's briefing. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, I'm here today to represent the agencies that are implementing the Emergency Plan as a unified team, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, State, the Peace Corps, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

For too long, AIDS sufferers in the developing world have had very limited access to the life-extending anti-retroviral treatment, or ART, that has been more widely available in the West. It was estimated that only 50,000 of the 4.1 million sub-Saharan Africans who could benefit from antiretroviral drugs were receiving them at the end of 2002.

However, in 2003, President Bush launched the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, with strong bipartisan Congressional support. As results are reported from the field, it is increasingly clear that the launch of the Emergency Plan marked a turning point in the fight against HIV/AIDS. On the ground, the reality is changing -- rapidly.

As the President referenced today, as of March 31 of this year, the Emergency Plan has supported antiretroviral treatment for approximately 235,000 men, women, and children through bilateral programs in 15 of the most afflicted countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Of that number, more than 230,000 of those being supported live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The goal set forth over a year ago was to support treatment for more than 200,000 people in these 15 countries by June 2005. So we didn't just exceed the goal by 35,000, we did it three months early. In my opinion, that is striking.

Looking ahead, these results indicate that the Emergency Plan remains on track, scaling up to meet the President's ambitious goal of supporting treatment for two million people in five years.

A particularly hopeful sign is that 57 percent of persons receiving treatment are women and girls, among the sites reporting such numbers. The United States is the only major donor to track treatment support by gender, and we will continue to work to ensure that women and girls have full access to prevention, treatment and care.

With these results, the U.S. continues to support treatment for more people than any other donor in the world, through our bilateral programs alone. That is in addition to our support for the programs of multilateral organizations that have treatment programs, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The U.S. remains by far the largest contributor to the Fund, providing one-third of its current resources. It's thus important to remember that one-third of the support for treatment provided by the Fund comes from the American people, in addition to the bilateral results announced today.

Now, how are we achieving these results? Two weeks ago, we held our second annual Field Meeting - this time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together the people who do the work on the ground -- US government people, Ministry of Health officials in the countries where we are working, our international partners such as UNAIDS, the WHO, and the Global Fund, as well as some of our bilateral partners among the donor nations, and a number of NGOs. Our purpose was to share lessons learned, to find out what is working and what is not. The key to our success is clearly the work of the talented and dedicated people in-country, including the people of the host government and non-governmental sectors. The Emergency Plan is a vehicle for the American people to support their efforts, and the true credit rests with those working on the ground.

U.S. government field staff work closely with partners and friends to implement each host nation's vision for fighting HIV/AIDS. The Emergency Plan is committed to working with national strategies to build capacity in-country: over 80% of our partners are indigenous organizations.

Only a locally-led response will be sustainable. The leadership and commitment to fighting AIDS in our host countries is strong and growing, and that is one of the most encouraging developments taking place today.

Let me comment on the spectrum of services required for quality treatment that we support. With our support, host nations are providing services that achieve results while at the same time building the local, sustainable capacity they need for national programs that will support their responses for the long term. The services and capacity expansion include:

-- Training for clinical and laboratory personnel;

-- Counselors for treatment regimen adherence, prevention and healthy living;

-- Support for physical infrastructure including laboratory equipment; and

-- Distribution, logistics and management systems for drugs and other commodities.

It's all important. As any clinician in the field will tell you, treatment requires far more than drugs alone, and the Emergency Plan recognizes that.

Treatment is so important because it brings hope that drives efforts in other areas such as prevention, counseling, testing, and care. The Emergency Plan is committed to integrating all of these -- no one piece can stand alone.

We are committed to prevention. Our goal is to save lives before they are ever infected with the virus. The Emergency Plan will issue a program update on prevention activities, including behavior change approaches, Mother-to-Child prevention activities, and safe blood and safe medical injections programs later this month.

We are committed to encouraging all people to get counseling and be tested. Only by being tested and knowing your status is it possible to get help. The United States has supported HIV/AIDS counseling and testing services for over 3.5 million people.

We are committed to care. The Emergency Plan had set a goal to support care for over 1.1 million HIV positive persons and AIDS orphans and vulnerable children by June 2005. This goal was actually exceeded back in September 2004, nine months early. Updated care numbers from March will be available in the near future.

Clearly, I'm very encouraged by the progress that is being made. The numbers are important, but that's because each number represents a human being. For them, these programs are turning the despair of suffering and death to the hope of health and life. It's a privilege to be part of that.

I'd be happy to address your questions.

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