Do not "Brexit" on AIDS, pleads Bill Clinton



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AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (AFP) – Bill Clinton pleaded with the world yesterday not to abandon the HIV campaign, which still kills nearly one million people each year and infects two times more

"Hold the line" until a vaccine or cure is found, or deal with "calamitous" consequences, said the former US president at the time the 22nd International Conference on AIDS in Amsterdam

"There is no Brexit in the fight against AIDS" the founder of Clinton HIV / AIDS Initiative, referring to the British decision to leave the 39 ;European Union.

"By a combination of convenience in some places and open hostility to global and multinational cooperation efforts in others, there is a serious risk that"

He cited data from the United Nations United States shows that 1.8 million people were newly infected in 2017 by the immune system, which causes AIDS.The year saw 940 000 deaths.

Among the 36.9 million people who lived With HIV last year, 15.2 million had no access to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

"About 35 people will die I am here talking," Clinton said.

Decades of research have not yet cured HIV, which has infected nearly 80 million people and killed 35.4 million since the early 1980s.

"Clinton said at On the last day of the conference, some 15,000 delegates – researchers, activists and people living with HIV – came together with famous activists: Charlize Theron, Elton John, Prince Harry and Conchita

. It's something you can not leave, "insisted the statesman.

His own country was attacked in Amsterdam because political researchers and activists say that it would jeopardize the global fight against HIV

to US aid under Donald Trump The administration has threatened programs to stop the spread of the virus,

The stipulations approved in Washington last May deny American help to organizations that provide information, referrals or abortion services – even with their own money.

It is commonly called the "Global Gag Rule", the policy "s & nbsp; Now applies to almost all of the world's bilateral badistance in health, "said International AIDS Society.Elected President, Anton Pozniak,

" The scope of this policy has been greatly expanded and has thepotential to roll back progress on HIV. "

Hundreds of recipient organizations risk losing their funding.

Clinics have already started firing and some have had to close, community officials said.

Activists have asked that the AIDS 2020 conference be moved from San Francisco, citing the global rule of gagging and other policies that they deem discriminatory.

"No lecture on AIDS in Trump America," insisted a coalition that called "AIDS 2020 for All"

the risk of losing control of the disease. epidemic was high, with infections increasing in some 50 countries as AIDS funding decreased.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia have experienced a 30% increase in new HIV cases since 2010. It is fueled by repressive laws that leave intravenous drug users without access to clean syringes or help.

At the same time, participants learned that scientific research for a cure for AIDS was still far away

. The infection with the virus forces them to live all their lives on antiretroviral treatment if they can get it

For Clinton, the most important message is not to give up on research, funding and the deployment of prevention and treatment. The fight now threatens "a return to epidemic proportions with breathtaking consequences," he insisted.

"This could derail a number of other health, economic, and social goals in every nation."

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