Originally published August 6 2005
AIDS battle needs more help
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
AIDS activists called for greater backing to exploit scientific progress in the battle against the pandemic at the start of a recent major international conference.
The third International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment ended on Wednesday with international leaders in AIDS research and policy calling for a renewed response to the global epidemic.
More than 5,500 participants from 128 countries attended the conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to hear the latest developments in basic, clinical and prevention science.
At the same time, the new Brazilian Minister of Health, Saraiva Felipe signed an agreement with UNAIDS Executive-Director Peter Piot to set up the first international centre for technical co-operation in HIV and AIDS.
The IAS - International AIDS Society - warns that approximately ten people become infected with HIV every minute.
Yet there remain marked disagreements over how to combat the spread of the disease.
One such organisation, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), requires that its beneficiaries condemn prostitution.
Brazil however has refused, as prostitution is legal, and in order to counter the problem of shortages, its government is stockpiling 1 billion condoms for free distribution next year.
In addition, a new condom manufacturing plant is to open in the city of Xapuri, Acre State, northern Brazil - the birthplace of Chico Mendes, Brazil's well-known environmentalist who was murdered in 1998.
The dispute with USAID has had considerable knock-on effect on charities such as Brazil's Prostitutes' Association, which up until recently, relied on USAID to help finance free condoms.
On Wednesday, Ivanilda Santos de Lima, President of the Prostitutes Association Fio da Alma in Rio de Janeiro, revealed she had just one box left to hand out.
It is estimated that more than two million people are living with HIV/AIDS across Latin American and Caribbean.
Approximately 600-thousand are from Brazil, where more than 160-thousand have died so far from AIDS related illnesses.
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