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Fight against AIDS
Interview given by Xavier Darcos, Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, to the weekly "le Point" magazine.
Bangkok, July 15, 2004
Q. – France, whom you are representing at the Bangkok 15th International AIDS Conference, is in 2004, the second-largest contributor to the Global Fund to combat this disease, providing €150 million. Why so much?
THE MINISTER – What is at stake is not just the search for a vaccine, but our ability to make huge efforts to fight this pandemic. If we succeed in putting $3 billion a year into the Global Fund – 1 billion from the United States, 1 billion from the Europeans and 1 billion from the private sector – we shall be able to save 3 million lives in 2005! We must do everything possible so that the poorest, in the least developed countries, have virtually cost-free access to treatment. In the face of such a scourge, there can't be just one angle of attack. The prevention policy is today essential, particularly in Asia. US/ABSTINENCE
Q. – The American government wishes to reserve 30% of its anti-AIDS funding for organizations which promote abstinence and are against the use of condoms...
THE MINISTER – It's futile to believe that appealing for abstinence, in poor countries, will resolve the problem./. Source : Ambafrance-London
Embassy of France in the United States - July 16, 2004
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