Almost 5 Million Lives Saved Through AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Treatment

This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.comThe Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in two thousand two. It is an alliance of business, government
and civilian partnerships.
A new report from the Global Fund says almost five million lives
have been saved through the six hundred programs it supports.
The programs operate in one hundred forty-four countries, many in
sub-Saharan Africa. The Global Fund has approved proposals for more than nineteen billion dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The report says two and one-half million people infected with HIV
now are being treated with antiretroviral medicines.
It says there has been a major decrease in AIDS deaths in
many countries as a result.
The report also says about
six million people with active tuberculosis are being treated
for the disease. The number of deaths from TB is dropping around the world. The Global Fund hasgiven out more than one hundred million bed nets in its battle against malaria. The bed nets
are treated with a poison to kill mosquitoes. The report says ten of the countries in Africa with the highest cases of malaria have reported decreases in new cases.
An increasing number of countries are reporting a drop of more than fifty percent in malaria deaths,
the report says.
Rifat Atun is director of strategy, performance and evaluation at the Global Fund. He says the programs the fund supports saved at least three thousand six hundred lives every day last year. And he says more lives can be saved in the future if the programs continue
to receive the money they need.
Rifat Atun says we can look
forward to a world that is free
of HIV infection in children.
And he says we can end transmission of HIV from mother to child.
The Global Fund was established
as a financial tool. It has several guiding ideas. It works to support programs that come from national plans and goals. It tries to find balance in dealing with places, diseases and interventions.
And the Global Fund is open in
its work to avoid corruption or
the appearance of corruption.
Most of the money for theGlobal Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria comes from the worlds leading industrial nations.
And thats the VOA Special
English Health Report.
For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 10Mar2010)