16176: (Chamberlain) Haiti-AIDS (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>


   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 22 (AP) -- Haiti has become the first country to
implement a program spearheaded by President Bush to stem mother-to-child
HIV/AIDS transmission.
   The mother-to-child program is part of Bush's proposal to spend $15
billion over five years to help the hardest-hit African and Caribbean
nations battle AIDS and the virus that leads to the disease.
   "Haiti was chosen because it is (the) readiest to go ahead," said U.S.
Ambassador Brian Dean Curran, launching the program Monday at the Sarcoma
and Opportunistic Infections Clinic.
   The clinic treated more than 21,000 patients last year and has opened 25
treatment centers nationwide where people are tested and counseled.
   Some $4 million has been earmarked for the first year of the five-year
program in Haiti. The United States expects to spend $60 million on AIDS in
Haiti over the next five years.
   The program should affect as many as 1 million women every year and
reduce the possibility of mother-to-child transmission by 40 percent within
five years, officials said.
   In that time, 850,000 mothers should be tested, and 25,000 given AIDS
drugs, said Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development.
   With at least 300,000 of Haiti's 8.8 million people infected, AIDS is
the leading cause of death for sexually active adults. An estimated 30,000
died last year and many cases go unreported.
   Every year, between 4,000 and 6,000 children are born with HIV.
   The Caribbean has the world's second highest infection rate after
sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 2.3 percent of people, or 500,000, --
excluding Cuba where infections rates are low -- have HIV.
   In the past two years, the United States has spent some $1.5 billion
annually on AIDS and it will be increased to $3 billion a year under Bush's
plan, officials said.
   Haiti and Guyana were the two Caribbean countries selected for the Bush
administration initiative.