ASIA-PACIFIC: Willing Coalition to Treat HIV/AIDS
Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY, Feb 28 (IPS) - Millions of dollars will be injected into the
diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the Asia Pacific region under
a significant new partnership between the Australian government and
the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The Australian Government has committed 25 million US dollars over
four years, complemented by funding from the Clinton Foundation, to
focus on jointly treating HIV-infected people in Papua New Guinea,
Vietnam and China under an agreement signed by Australian foreign
minister Alexander Downer and former United States president Bill
Clinton, last week.

''Many of the Australian government's programmes until now, and will
continue to be, preventative, but dealing with the treatment side of
it is going to be an important part of the effort we make to help
fight HIV in the region'', Downer emphasised.

The United Nations estimates that more than eight million people in
the Asia Pacific region are living with HIV and that this figure may
reach 20 million by 2010 if immediate action is not taken to curb
virus spread.

The new partnership is aimed at strengthening the capacity of
regional governments to scale up treatment and care for people
living with HIV/AIDS. This will include improving the procurement
and supply of anti-retroviral drugs, improving laboratory and
testing infrastructure and strengthening monitoring and evaluation
systems.

AIDS groups have welcomed the partnership devoted to combating HIV
in the region. Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations national
president Ian Rankin said the strategies come at a vital stage of
the response. ''As a HIV-positive person I know how important these
are for our colleagues with HIV in Asian and Pacific countries and
particularly urgently required in Papua New Guinea. The initiative
confirms shift to a more strategic, systemic and effective approach
to responding to the HIV epidemic in the region.''

Research commissioned by Australia's international aid agency,
AusAID, estimates that more than 60,000 people or one per cent of
the entire population of Papua New Guinea is already infected with
HIV and predicts that this number could increase to more than half a
million by 2025.

In the capital Port Moresby, more than 60 percent of hospital beds
are taken by HIV patients. Experts say that, with annual infection
rate increasing by 33 per cent a year, the country is on the verge
of an African-style disaster that could kill millions and destroy
the economy.

Official estimates by UNAIDS and AusAid put the numbers of people
living with HIV in the following Asia Pacific countries at between
0.1-2.0 per cent of adult (15-49 years) populations; India 5 million
people, China 800,000, Thailand 975,000, Myanmar 516,000, Cambodia
240,000. In East Timor, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu few diagnoses
have been reported but there is a risk that HIV/AIDS will take a
path similar to Papua New Guinea.

''There is clearly a moral imperative to do something about thisą
since this disease is 100 per cent preventable. There are places in
Africa, and indeed there are villages in rural China, where there
are no young adults left. There is medicine which stops transmission
to children of pregnant women about 100 per cent of the time. And
finally, there are anti-retroviral drugs which will give almost all
children and adults a normal lifespan if they are given as part of
an overall health plan'', Clinton said.

While Downer referred frequently to lost business opportunities, if
the disease continues to spread in the region, Clinton stressed
other reasons for devoting his time to this issue, noting that last
year half a million children around the world died of AIDS.

"The idea that these children are dying like flies and people like
us, with the money we have, are walking away from them and not
keeping them alive is inexcusable,'' Clinton said, adding that
children needed paediatric AIDS medicine. ''It's not like a pill you
can take and cut in half. Last year, in the whole developing world,
only 25,000 kids were getting medicine and 15,000 of them were in
Brazil and Thailand, where the government provides it.''

The Clinton Foundation recently announced HIV/AIDS programmes in
India, the second-worst affected nation after South Africa, and
negotiated major price discounts on AIDS tests and drugs with nine
companies from five countries, including India and China to help cut
the cost of testing and treatment in 50 developing countries in
Africa, Asia and Latin America.

AusAid and the Clinton Foundation will begin with providing testing
in these developing countries. The aim is to be able to test for 50
US cents and tell the person in 20 minutes if they're HIV positive
or not. In Xinjiang province, western China, where AusAID has a
programme focused on delivering care and treatment to injection drug
users, the Clinton Foundation will help address more people.

The announcement of Australia's new links with the Clinton
Foundation coincided with the launch of the Asia Pacific Business
Coalition on HIV/AIDS. AusAID and the Lowy Institute for
International Policy launched the business coalition to be headed by
Australia's flagship carrier Qantas' chairperson Margaret Jackson.

The business coalition will work to implement workplace policies and
education programmes on HIV; use the resources of business to
disseminate HIV prevention messages; and support other organisations
such as the Clinton Foundation, the Global Fund, AusAID and the Lowy
Institute in trying to prevent more people actually becoming
infected with HIV and help those infected live within their
communities.

Jackson said: ''HIV is a medical emergency and a long-term threat to
economic growth and development. If serious efforts are not made to
halt this epidemic, by 2010, 40 per cent of the world's new
infections will be in the Asia Pacific region.''

She explained how the disease is actively transmitted via economic
activity -- Labour migration, transport networks, infrastructure
projects, mining and logging sites. HIV infections mostly strike
people of working age from 15 to 49, thus striking the most
productive sections of society.

The World Bank has concluded that if current infection trends
continue, HIV/AIDS will halt and then begin to reverse Asia's
economic growth.

A joint UN-Asian Development Bank study puts economic losses from
HIV/AIDS in the Asia Pacific in 2001 at about 7.3 billion dollars
and projects annual financial losses of up to 17.5 billion dollars
by 2010. On the other hand, the study showed that there would be
annual savings of nearly eight billion dollars were to be invested
over the next four years -- until the year 2010.

Oxfam Australia said the establishment of the new coalition
represented recognition of the role the private sector can play in
responding to HIV and AIDS. "Currently the private sector
contributes less than one per cent of the resources needed by the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS. We hope that the establishment of this
coalition will result in a substantial increase in financial support
from business,'' executive director Andrew Hewett said.

Australia plays a lead role in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in
the Asia Pacific region and has committed a total of 600 million
dollars from 2000 to 2010 to combat HIV. (END/2006)

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