US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson was shouted down by AIDS activists and prevented from addressing the World AIDS conference in Barcelona yesterday (Tuesday).

About 50 members of AIDS lobby groups Act up, Health GAP and the Gay Men’€™s Health Crisis chanting “Money for AIDS, not for war”, were spontaneously joined by over 100 delegates as they prevented Thompson from  speaking on his government’€™s contribution to funding the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The US has been criticised for only contributing $200-million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan says $10-billion a year is needed to fund the war against AIDS.

According to an analysis of country contributions to the fund by Act up, a poor country such as Rwanda has contributed ten times more as a percentage of its GDP than the US while Uganda’€™s donation to the Fund is about 30% larger than that of the US.

“After September 11, it took less than one month to expand the massive US military budget by $40-billion,” according to Act up, but that US president George Bush had recently undermined the US Senate’€™s efforts to add $700 million to the Global Fund for this year.

Meanwhile, Global Fund director Dr Richard Feachem, who was able to speak, said the first of the fund’€™s grants will make it possible for “six times as many people in Africa to receive anti-retroviral treatment over the next five years”.

Some 58 proposals from 40 countries totalling $1.6-billion over five years have so far been approved.

“Without rapid and substantial increases in financial support for the Global Fund, it will not be possible to support the proposals we anticipate getting in the next 12 months,” warned Feachem.

To view highlights of this session click here

To read a transcript of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson’s official address, click here.

Access related links online:  http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=12197

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