The US yesterday 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," Randall Tobias, the US AIDS coordinator, said in a speech to 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 US has come under intense criticism this week at 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 US 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.
Tobias noted that the US is spending nearly twice as much to fight global AIDS as the rest of the world's donor governments combined.
US President George W. Bush has pledged US$15 billion over five years to combat AIDS in Vietnam and 14 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
"By its actions, the US has challenged the rest of the world to take action. 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 its abstinence-first policy. Also, the money currently can only buy brandname drugs, usually American, shutting out cheaper generic medicines made by developing countries.
A UN-launched Global Fund allows generic drugs, costing as little as US$150 per person per year, while those approved under the US plan typically cost US$700, said Joia Mukherjee, medical director of Partners in Health, which helps treat poor people in Haiti.
"The last thing I want to worry about is which bottle this stuff is coming out of," she told reporters.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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