Fed: Australia to give $25 million to global AIDS fund

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2004
Fed: Australia to give $25 million to global AIDS fund

CANBERRA, Feb 18 AAP - Australians did not yet understand the global devastation being
caused by AIDS, the head of a global fund to fight the epidemic said today.

The federal government today committed $25 million over the next three years to The
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Fund executive director Richard Feachem said Australia was recognised as a world leader
in fighting HIV/AIDS and its decision to join the fund would spur other countries to take
part.

Dr Feachem said the true scale of the epidemic was beyond most people's understanding.

"We collectively in the rich countries have not adequately yet appreciated the global
devastation that HIV/AIDS is causing," he told reporters.

"If you go to the countries of southern Africa, you'll see these countries imploding
because of HIV/AIDS.

"Three African heads of state have predicted that their countries will cease to exist
as organised nation states if this epidemic continues.

"We have seen nothing like this. It is beyond our human experience."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the funding was on top of Australia's six-year
$200 million global HIV/AIDS initiative, which he launched in 2000.

AAP mfh/sb/tma/br

KEYWORD: AIDS

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