The world will indeed be watching as the Group of Eight leaders meet this week
in Gleneagles, Scotland, to see how widely they open their coffers, Kim said in
an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.
While donor countries appear set to spend $27 billion (2.970 trillion yen) in
AIDS assistance over the next three years, at least $18 billion more will be
needed to prevent the spread of HIV, Kim said.
He added that Tokyo's recent pledge of $500 million to the global fund against
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, plus $5 billion for health and development
projects, were "extraordinarily important."
He said he expected other countries to follow suit.
"At Gleneagles, we're waiting to see what they say. Eighteen billion dollars is
a lot of money. But as we have been watching the tsunami response and various
efforts in the Middle East, we know that money is around," Kim said. "There are
a lot of hidden pockets that are deep."
Increasing resources-including funding-and exerting strong leadership in
dealing with AIDS in Asia were the main points addressed at the conclusion of
the five-day conference, which was attended by more than 4,000 participants
from 70 countries and regions.
"We feel that if we make the case strongly enough, money will show up," Kim
said.
A budget of $45 billion would not only provide life-sustaining treatment for
millions who live with HIV in developing countries worldwide, but it would also
help develop measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Those would include basic moves like making drugs available to prevent
mother-to-child transmission at birth to the development of an AIDS vaccine.
Kim pointed out that a large problem in developing countries is that affected
mothers are unable to access even drugs costing "just pennies" that could
prevent passing the virus to a baby during delivery.
According to WHO, only 8 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women across Asia
have access to such medication.
Kim said the political will in many nations has focused on investing in
treatment because "what they can sell to their constituencies is saving lives."
Although that, too, is important, Kim said prevention is the ultimate key to
eradicating the epidemic, particularly in Asia. Lately, he said aid
disbursements for prevention projects get more than half of what is pledged.
"We think that for the future, prevention should be funded by at least twice
the amount that is used for treatment," Kim said. The Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, has offered about 300 grants worth $3 billion
to date.
"Prevention is the ultimate answer to HIV," Kim emphasized.
IHT/Asahi
