speechlesstx
Apr 8, 2009, 10:30 AM
Treatment effort hailed a success (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/bush-aids-fight-saved-11-million-study-says/)
Former President George W. Bush's international AIDS-fighting campaign has reduced by 10 percent the mortality rates in 15 targeted countries, primarily in Africa, and has saved 1.1 million lives, according to a study that for the first time quantified the successes of his program.
The study by two Stanford University doctors showed the treatment part of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which involves making drug treatment available to about 2 million people, has shown solid success while the prevention efforts under the program have not yet produced the same concrete results.
"It has averted deaths - a lot of deaths - with about a 10 percent reduction compared with neighboring African countries," said Dr. Eran Bendavid, a fellow in infectious disease and in health policy and research at Stanford who led the study. "However, we could not see a change in prevalence rates that was associated with PEPFAR."
For each life saved, $2,700 was spent on treatment, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It looked at death and infection rates from 2004 through 2007 in countries PEPFAR focused on versus 29 other African nations. The study found HIV infection rates were about the same.
Presidential scholars have said PEPFAR is one of the best chances Mr. Bush has to rehabilitate his legacy, and the study's results are a strong showing for the still-young program.
"It's great news that even in the first three years the American people supported the saving of more than a million lives," said Mark Dybul, who ran PEPFAR as Mr. Bush's Global AIDS coordinator. He said PEPFAR, created in 2003, didn't even ramp up substantially until 2006 so the lives-saved figure is even more impressive.
http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/img/photos/2009/04/07/20090406-235651-pic-375321348_r350x200.jpg?0babd24c675f3097b9d1ff106ec 8653055db7939
I can't wait to see your warm-hearted responses.
Former President George W. Bush's international AIDS-fighting campaign has reduced by 10 percent the mortality rates in 15 targeted countries, primarily in Africa, and has saved 1.1 million lives, according to a study that for the first time quantified the successes of his program.
The study by two Stanford University doctors showed the treatment part of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which involves making drug treatment available to about 2 million people, has shown solid success while the prevention efforts under the program have not yet produced the same concrete results.
"It has averted deaths - a lot of deaths - with about a 10 percent reduction compared with neighboring African countries," said Dr. Eran Bendavid, a fellow in infectious disease and in health policy and research at Stanford who led the study. "However, we could not see a change in prevalence rates that was associated with PEPFAR."
For each life saved, $2,700 was spent on treatment, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It looked at death and infection rates from 2004 through 2007 in countries PEPFAR focused on versus 29 other African nations. The study found HIV infection rates were about the same.
Presidential scholars have said PEPFAR is one of the best chances Mr. Bush has to rehabilitate his legacy, and the study's results are a strong showing for the still-young program.
"It's great news that even in the first three years the American people supported the saving of more than a million lives," said Mark Dybul, who ran PEPFAR as Mr. Bush's Global AIDS coordinator. He said PEPFAR, created in 2003, didn't even ramp up substantially until 2006 so the lives-saved figure is even more impressive.
http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/img/photos/2009/04/07/20090406-235651-pic-375321348_r350x200.jpg?0babd24c675f3097b9d1ff106ec 8653055db7939
I can't wait to see your warm-hearted responses.