Bill Gates: World Has Historic Opportunity

2010-07-22

Speaking to the 18th International AIDS Conference, Bill Gates called on all countries to keep up the fight against HIV/AIDS, saying the world has an historic opportunity to “change the face of AIDS.” Mr. Gates said current efforts to treat people with HIV are saving millions of lives, and urged a renewed focus on reducing annual new HIV infections up to 90% by 2031, the year that will mark 50 years of the AIDS epidemic.

“The past few years of AIDS tell a story of remarkable progress,” Mr. Gates said today, noting that more than 5 million people currently receive antiretroviral treatment for the disease, a 12-fold increase in just six years. “By bringing attention to HIV, we have also awakened the world to other health problems of the poor, like malaria and tuberculosis, where we are seeing phenomenal success.”

But Mr. Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stressed that future progress against AIDS depends on aggressively preventing new HIV infections: “We can drive down the number of new HIV infections dramatically and start writing the story of the end of AIDS.”

While new HIV infections are already on the decline – the number of annual new infections dropped 17% from 2001 to 2008, according to UNAIDS – the pace of decline is not fast enough to have a significant impact on the course of the epidemic, Mr. Gates said. Today, for every two people with HIV who gain access to treatment, another five people become newly infected.

Mr. Gates said that while new funding is critical for achieving further progress on AIDS, the world also needs “a new focus on efficiency in AIDS funding in prevention and treatment.”

“We have to be honest with ourselves: We can’t keep spending AIDS resources in exactly the same way we do today,” Mr. Gates said. “As we continue to advocate for more funding, we also need to make sure we’re getting the most benefit from each dollar of AIDS funding and every ounce of effort.”

Contributed by: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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