CBS/AP) The United States on Wednesday urged its legions of detractors to end their bickering over condoms and drug patents and join hands with Washington in a global partnership to fight their common enemy: AIDS.
"At this point, perhaps the most critical mistake we can make is to allow this pandemic to divide us," the U.S. global AIDS coordinator Randall Tobias told the International AIDS Conference.
"We are striving toward the same goal: a world free of HIV/AIDS. When 8,000 lives are lost to AIDS every day, division is a luxury we cannot afford," he said.
The United States has come under intense criticism during the six-day conference over its AIDS policies, with activists, scientists and governments finding fault with nearly every Washington policy on HIV. Its insistence on abstinence as a first line of defense against HIV has been ridiculed as unworkable by proponents of condoms. Tobias said while the United States is not against condoms, an abstinence campaign in Uganda shows that the contraceptives are not the only solution.
"Abstinence works, being faithful works, condoms work. Each has its place," he said.
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He's lying, people dying," protesters chanted in near-constant heckling during the speech, which was initially delayed a few minutes when they massed near the stage.
Tobias noted that the United States is spending nearly twice as much to fight global AIDS as the rest of the world's donor governments combined.
President Bush has pledged $15 billion over five years to combat AIDS in Vietnam and 14 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
"Please join with us in our deepened commitment to the global fight against HIV/AIDS," Tobias said.
Critics say the money comes with strings attached — it goes to countries that support Mr. Bush's abstinence-first policy. Also, the money currently can only buy brand-name drugs, usually American, shutting out cheaper generic medicines made by developing countries. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/13/...ain629187.shtml
