Jon L. Christensen: “I want to take this first opportunity, since the case against South Africa by the pharmaceutical industry has been…”

“I want to take this first opportunity, since the case against South Africa by the pharmaceutical industry has been withdrawn, to applaud the recent agreement that has been reached. The HIV/AIDS pandemic represents a major human disaster, with Sub-Saharan Africa bearing the brunt of the devastation. More than 70 percent of the 35 million people infected lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa, with 4.2 million infected as of 1999, has the world's largest number of HIV-infected individuals, with an estimated 250,000 AIDS deaths in that year. Last week, with this landmark agreement, a major barrier to help and health has been removed. We can now and must now move forward to address the multiplicity of issues that challenge us, forge a better health care infrastructure, support government and community-based programs, increase and improve prevention efforts and make up-to-date and effective treatment available on the African continent. As we continue to struggle against this pandemic, we must not forget that this is truly a disease of international scope and that people of African descent in the United States and the Caribbean have rates of HIV infection and AIDS that are similar in face and only slightly less in proportional magnitude than that of our brothers and sisters on the mother continent.”