US in the Fight against HIV/AIDS

As the world marks the 21st anniversary of World AIDS Day on December 1, the continuing rise in the population of people living with HIV globally has not shown a great deal of progress, but governments worldwide have been making efforts to keep their commitments to fight the deadly disease. In the United States, improvements are seen in research, treatment and prevention of the disease, though great challenges still lie ahead. Our Washington correspondent shanshan has the story.
First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day this year has a worldwide theme of "Universal Access and Human Rights: I Am", reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done for everyone. According to the latest report on AIDS by UNAIDS and World Health Organization, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health of the United States, says the US government has injected huge investment in HIV research, which has yielded progress over the years.

Dr. Fauci says while treatment is crucial, prevention should be prioritized in the first place to reduce infection.

"Finally, in prevention, there are a number of proven prevention strategies that we know work. Everything from counseling and media campaigns to distribution of condoms, needle exchange programs, circumcision, prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Again, that's the good news. The sobering news is that globally, less than 20 percent of people who would benefit from prevention modalities actually have access to them. "

Michele Moloney-Kitts, Assistant United States Global AIDS Coordinator in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, says in the global context, the US is the largest donor by far to the global fight against AIDS.

In May this year, US President Barack Obama released a statement on Global Health Initiative, which involves a budget of 63 billion dollars over six years from 2009 to 2014 to shape a new, comprehensive global health strategy.

The expert says though progess has been made, there are still great challenges ahead.

"So as we move forward, some of the challenges that we face: one is to make sure that we are able to ensure that services are sustained and remain available for the lifetime of our patients, because as you know, once you start HIV treatment, you need to do it for life. We need to make sure that the U.S. Government investments are making the biggest possible impact. And clearly, prevention has to be a priority. "

ShanShan, CRI News, Washington.