ZNet | Global Economics | US AIDS Czar Undermines WHO Initiative

ZNet | Global Economics | US AIDS Czar Undermines WHO Initiative

According to Sanjay Basu, "the new US AIDS "Czar", Randall Tobias, the former CEO of Eli Lilly, has almost totally undermined the WHO plan. While he and the White House initially pledged to support the initiative, no monies have flowed to date, and Tobias appears to be waiting until the program completely collapses from financial instability. Ironically, when President Bush claimed to pledge $15 billion to global AIDS efforts during the State of the Union Address last year (none of which has actually been apportioned to date), he quoted the price of the WHO generic pill as a basis for claiming that the US would support drug treatment for HIV-infected persons, since such treatment has become more affordable. It now appears that the US will only pay if US patent-based pharmaceutical manufacturers are given the money--an effective subsidy of an already heavily-subsidized industry that is taxed at only one-third of the rate of other equivalent industries". by Sanjay Basu, ZNet, March 21, 2004.