Associated press, April 7, 2001
By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Philanthropists call for more spending on AIDS prevention

SEATTLE - A lack of money and political leadership is stymieing the fight against the worldwide AIDS epidemic, the heads of three major charitable foundations say.

The leaders of the Bill and Melinda Gates, Rockefeller, and United Nations foundations criticized what Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called a "vacuum in leadership and a vacuum in funding" when it comes to fighting the disease.

Even as AIDS drugs become cheaper and more available, the pandemic won't be stopped unless money is also spent on education and condoms, they said Friday.

"The amount of money being spent today is so inadequate relative to the size of the crisis," Gates said during a conference call with reporters. "It's the political leaders who are really going to have to put this more on their agenda."

Gates joined Timothy Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, and Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, in saying they hoped recent strides in finding a vaccine for HIV and AIDS would not drown out the need for prevention.

They spoke a day after the heads of six major drug companies told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan they would hurry to cut the prices of AIDS drugs in poor countries, and two days after Harvard University researchers estimated it would take $6.3 billion per year over the next five years to bring prevention and treatment to 3 million people in Africa.

The charity leaders welcomed recent remarks by Secretary of State Colin Powell calling for more attention to the epidemic, and praised the U.S. Senate for voting Thursday to spend $200 million more fighting it next year. But they said that is only a first step, and more work needs to be done to ensure the money is actually spent.

"Millions of people in Asia and millions of people in Africa are dying, and that's a threat to the security of the world," Conway said.

Wirth said spending as much money on prevention as on treatment would help "break the cycle of infection."

Trevor Neilson, a spokesman for the Gates Foundation, said the issue is about condoms. He noted that according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, 38 of the 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have fewer than five condoms per sexually active man per year.

"There aren't enough condoms," Neilson said. "Simple things like this can have a major impact."

Countries including Uganda and Thailand have seriously reduced HIV infection through education and prevention programs, he said.

More than 36 million people are infected with HIV or have AIDS, including 5.3 million new cases last year alone, the U.N. says. About 3 million people died of AIDS in 2000. Ninety percent of people with HIV or AIDS live in the developing world.

In the last two years, the Gates Foundation has committed $350 million to fighting AIDS. The U.N. Foundation, created by a $1 billion gift from Ted Turner, targeted $45.9 million in the past three years to fight AIDS in adolescent girls, and the Rockefeller Foundation has also given millions.

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