Global AIDS Conference Rally Calls for Cheaper Medicines, More Funding

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In a piece titled, Global AIDS conference rally calls for cheaper medicines, more funding, the Washington Post reports on the first day of the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

From the piece:

As in all these meetings, the opening ceremony featured an eclectic mix of speakers, including D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and a 24-year-old HIV-positive woman from Zimbabwe. Not present was President Obama. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, represented the administration.

She announced four public-private partnerships to improve access to HIV care in the United States and especially to keep people from dropping out of care. Only 28 percent of Americans with the infection are now treated optimally.

The Zimbabwean woman, Annah Sango, spoke for women, who are the majority of new cases in Africa, and for people in countries where stigma holds back a full assault on the epidemic.

She told listeners in the huge, darkened hall that she was transitioning to adulthood and “would like to do that in a safe space that allows me to access and exercise all my rights, a safe space that will allow me to be the best I can be in life. How have you been accountable in creating that space for me and everyone else?”

Read the full story here.