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Martin pledges $100-million for HIV
Activists hail contribution as a key step to an international treatment program
By CAMPBELL CLARK
MONTREAL -- Canada will pony up one-third of the cost of an international program to treat three million people in developing countries for AIDS/HIV by next year, breaking a funding logjam with a $100-million contribution.
The injection of money, which will push forward a World Health Organization program that had been unable to scratch together funding, was quickly hailed by AIDS activists as a key step -- and garnered Prime Minister Paul Martin new praise from Irish rock-star-turned-AIDS-activist Bono.
Mr. Martin, delivering a broad foreign-policy speech in Montreal, also used the $100-million contribution to underline his call for Canada to take a leading role in helping to build institutions in developing and failed states.
"This contribution makes us the program's leading donor," Mr. Martin said. "Canadians can take pride in this, because it is a question of life and death."
Although the United States and some organizations have contributed far larger sums to the battle against AIDS in Africa and other parts of the developing world, activists said Canada's $100-million contribution to the so-called "3-by-5" program will help fund an important piece of the puzzle.
"It's tremendously significant," said Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for AIDS/HIV Africa. "In the long-term fight against the pandemic, this may turn out to be one of the truly crucial moments."
The program has been dubbed "3-by-5" because the United Nations and WHO initiative has set a goal of getting three million people in 50 developing countries, especially in hard-hit African nations, into treatment by 2005.
The "3-by-5" program aims to make it possible for other initiatives to purchase anti-retroviral treatments -- so-called drug cocktails. It would ensure that poor countries can build health-care systems to treat large numbers of people.
The program will train 100,000 doctors, nurses, community health workers, pharmacists and counsellors in countries that are devastated by high rates of infection, but do not have a health-care system that can handle the vastly expanded treatment programs. It will build health-care infrastructure -- such as clinics -- in some countries and co-ordinate treatment programs.
An estimated 40 million people are infected with AIDS/HIV, including about 28.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the WHO.
The WHO had set a $218-million (U.S.) budget for the program, but had so far been able to pull together only about $60-million from its own sources and a $7-million contribution from the British government, Mr. Lewis said.
Canada's $100-million - about $75-million (U.S.) - provides a third of the funding, and will likely make it easier to find other donors, Mr. Lewis said.
Bono, the lead singer for Irish rock band U2 who founded the group DATA -- which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa -- to combat AIDS and promote development in Africa, issued a statement giving glowing kudos to Mr. Martin. The rock star had spoken at last November's Liberal leadership convention, where Mr. Martin took over the governing party.
"Wow. A politician who doesn't break his promises. This is real leadership," Bono said in the statement. "I hope Canadians will know what this means in the rest of the world."
While that announcement attracted the attention of activists, it was only a small part of a broad foreign-policy speech in which Mr. Martin called for Canada to take a large role in building institutions, particularly in failed states, such as Haiti and Afghanistan.
His proposals for a "G20" conference of national leaders and a Canada Corps to build institutions in developing countries and failed states were the two pillars of that policy.
He said his call for a G20 conference, which would bring together leaders of the Group of Seven nations and countries such as India and China, had won interest from U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Mr. Martin also announced the appointment of diplomat Marie Gervais-Vidricaire as the head of the new Canada Corps organization, which will be co-chaired by former civil servant Gordon Smith and astronaut Julie Payette.
The organization will bring together experts "from MBAs to retired police officers, from Constitution experts to dietitians or teachers" to help countries build lasting institutions.
That proposal was not as warmly received as his AIDS announcement, however. Bloc Qu?b?cois foreign-affairs critic Francine Lalonde said the Canada Corps is still a half-baked proposal for a group whose mission is muddy.
"It's very vague, and frankly, we didn't get a lot of information about it," she said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040511/MARTIN11/TPNational/Canada
Activists hail contribution as a key step to an international treatment program
By CAMPBELL CLARK
MONTREAL -- Canada will pony up one-third of the cost of an international program to treat three million people in developing countries for AIDS/HIV by next year, breaking a funding logjam with a $100-million contribution.
The injection of money, which will push forward a World Health Organization program that had been unable to scratch together funding, was quickly hailed by AIDS activists as a key step -- and garnered Prime Minister Paul Martin new praise from Irish rock-star-turned-AIDS-activist Bono.
Mr. Martin, delivering a broad foreign-policy speech in Montreal, also used the $100-million contribution to underline his call for Canada to take a leading role in helping to build institutions in developing and failed states.
"This contribution makes us the program's leading donor," Mr. Martin said. "Canadians can take pride in this, because it is a question of life and death."
Although the United States and some organizations have contributed far larger sums to the battle against AIDS in Africa and other parts of the developing world, activists said Canada's $100-million contribution to the so-called "3-by-5" program will help fund an important piece of the puzzle.
"It's tremendously significant," said Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for AIDS/HIV Africa. "In the long-term fight against the pandemic, this may turn out to be one of the truly crucial moments."
The program has been dubbed "3-by-5" because the United Nations and WHO initiative has set a goal of getting three million people in 50 developing countries, especially in hard-hit African nations, into treatment by 2005.
The "3-by-5" program aims to make it possible for other initiatives to purchase anti-retroviral treatments -- so-called drug cocktails. It would ensure that poor countries can build health-care systems to treat large numbers of people.
The program will train 100,000 doctors, nurses, community health workers, pharmacists and counsellors in countries that are devastated by high rates of infection, but do not have a health-care system that can handle the vastly expanded treatment programs. It will build health-care infrastructure -- such as clinics -- in some countries and co-ordinate treatment programs.
An estimated 40 million people are infected with AIDS/HIV, including about 28.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the WHO.
The WHO had set a $218-million (U.S.) budget for the program, but had so far been able to pull together only about $60-million from its own sources and a $7-million contribution from the British government, Mr. Lewis said.
Canada's $100-million - about $75-million (U.S.) - provides a third of the funding, and will likely make it easier to find other donors, Mr. Lewis said.
Bono, the lead singer for Irish rock band U2 who founded the group DATA -- which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa -- to combat AIDS and promote development in Africa, issued a statement giving glowing kudos to Mr. Martin. The rock star had spoken at last November's Liberal leadership convention, where Mr. Martin took over the governing party.
"Wow. A politician who doesn't break his promises. This is real leadership," Bono said in the statement. "I hope Canadians will know what this means in the rest of the world."
While that announcement attracted the attention of activists, it was only a small part of a broad foreign-policy speech in which Mr. Martin called for Canada to take a large role in building institutions, particularly in failed states, such as Haiti and Afghanistan.
His proposals for a "G20" conference of national leaders and a Canada Corps to build institutions in developing countries and failed states were the two pillars of that policy.
He said his call for a G20 conference, which would bring together leaders of the Group of Seven nations and countries such as India and China, had won interest from U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Mr. Martin also announced the appointment of diplomat Marie Gervais-Vidricaire as the head of the new Canada Corps organization, which will be co-chaired by former civil servant Gordon Smith and astronaut Julie Payette.
The organization will bring together experts "from MBAs to retired police officers, from Constitution experts to dietitians or teachers" to help countries build lasting institutions.
That proposal was not as warmly received as his AIDS announcement, however. Bloc Qu?b?cois foreign-affairs critic Francine Lalonde said the Canada Corps is still a half-baked proposal for a group whose mission is muddy.
"It's very vague, and frankly, we didn't get a lot of information about it," she said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040511/MARTIN11/TPNational/Canada
