[speechlesstx]

Treatment effort hailed a success

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.

I can't wait to see your warm-hearted responses.

[excon]

I can't wait to see your warm-hearted responses.

Hello Steve:

He didn't screw up EVERYTHING. Is that warm enough?

excon

[speechlesstx]

It'll do, ex.

[tomder55]

He gave out that many condoms ? (snicker )

[inthebox]

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in Africa: An Evaluation of Outcomes -- Bendavid and Bhattacharya, -- Annals of Internal Medicine

Changes in prevalence are complex and depend on the rate of new infections, deaths due to HIV or AIDS, and changes in the size of the population. We see no evidence that prevalence trends in the focus countries differed from those in the control countries during PEPFAR's activities. To effect a reduction in HIV prevalence, the combined effect of reduced HIV incidence and increased population size must offset the reduction in deaths from HIV or AIDS. Although it may be too early to observe these changes, it is important to follow this trend for several reasons: measurement of prevalence is standardized in many countries, longitudinal trends through sentinel sites are widely available, and it is a key determinant of infection risk (29). A reduction in prevalence that may be attributable to PEPFAR would be a consequential accomplishment for the next 5 years of PEPFAR.

There are too many factors to control or account for to see if <7&#37; of the allocated money spent on abstinence makes a statistical difference.

It's encouraging, but we will continue to be on guard against

Congress' tendency to fix what isn't broken," said John Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and a doctor who has been active in shaping U.S. AIDS efforts. ...

but what does congress do ?



Lawmakers also removed the previous requirement that a third of prevention money go to abstinence programs, instead putting in a benchmark that if abstinence and fidelity spending drops below 50 percent of funding for prevention, the program would have to justify those decisions.

Nice find Speech













G&P

[Skell]

Maybe he will earn a Nobel prize.

[speechlesstx]

Maybe he will earn a Nobel prize.

Nah, that only goes to his loser opponent :)