*EPF106 09/20/2004
Fact Sheet: U.S. AIDS Initiative Provides Treatment to Thousands
(200,000 people will be receiving drugs by June 2005, report predicts) (650)

The U.S. Global AIDS coordinator has released a progress report on implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The report finds that almost 25,000 people worldwide have started receiving life-saving drug treatment since dispersal of funding for the program began in early 2004.

Findings of the report are summarized in the following fact sheet:

(begin fact sheet)

Office of the United States Global AIDS Coordinator

Update on the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief

September 15, 2004

Progress Report on Lifesaving Drug Therapy: ART Supported for Almost 25,000 in First Few Months of President's Program

To demonstrate the early impact the President's Emergency Plan is having in Sub-Saharan Africa, consider that in June 2004, the World Health Organization reported that approximately 150,000 people in all of sub-Saharan Africa were enrolled in public- and private-sector programs that provided them with antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Now, only a few months into implementation, the President's Emergency Plan is already supporting ART for, at minimum, 24,900 HIV-infected men, women, and children in just nine focus nations.

This report highlights one of the four cornerstones of President Bush's Emergency Plan: the implementation of strong strategic information systems to ensure accountability and continued improvement of best practices.

These are hard, actual numbers, produced for our required report to Congress, not projections, and reflect preliminary reporting from 9 of 15 focus countries. It is likely that the Emergency Plan is supporting more ART than was reported. We will capture the full breadth of the extensive support the Emergency Plan is already providing for ART at the end of the first reporting period, on September 30, 2004 -- six months into implementation.

All Emergency Plan ARV sites continue to enroll new patients. Beginning in July, numerous new sites have begun to be supported by the U.S. Government, reflecting the release a new tranche of funds.

With this early success and our continued work to rapidly expand capacity, the President's Plan is on track to have over 200,000 men, women, and children on treatment by June, 2005 -- a number which will approximately double the number of people receiving treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.

Faith-Based Organizations: Key Partners in America's Fight Against Global AIDS

Comments by the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Randall Tobias, at a White House Conference in St. Louis on September 14:

"The fact is that the churches, the monasteries, the temples, the mosques, and the synagogues in the countries hardest hit are among those who are present in the places where the need is greatest."

"Our focus has to be on the bottom line -- saving lives. If we were to work in developing countries but refuse to work with faith-based organizations, we would be harming our ability to save lives -- and that is just incomprehensible to us."

"America will continue to take advantage of the expertise, experience, and passion of faith-based service providers to turn the tide against AIDS throughout the world."

U.S. Provides Incentive for Other Donors to Support Global Fund

-- To stimulate global commitment to the Global Fund, for FY 2004 Congress appropriated up to $547 million for the Fund, provided that U.S. donations not exceed 33% of all contributions.

-- Unfortunately, as of July 31, the rest of the world's contributions fell short, so that under U.S. law, $120 million of the $547 million is currently not eligible to be contributed.

-- However, Ambassador Tobias decided to allow this $120 million to be available to match any non-U.S. contributions made before Sept. 30.

-- Other donor nations, companies and private citizens around the world now must take this opportunity to maximize their investment to the Fund with matching funds from the U.S.

(end fact sheet)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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