[afro-nets] WB Announces New Strategic Plan To Fight HIV/AIDS

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

World Bank Announces New Strategic Plan To Fight HIV/AIDS
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From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel@undp.org>

World Bank Announces New Strategic Plan To Fight
HIV/AIDS

The World Bank on Wednesday announced a strategic plan to combat
HIV/AIDS worldwide with the aim of strengthening the bank's ap-
proach to the disease using no-interest lending, grants, analy-
sis, technical support and advice on AIDS policy for developing
countries, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

The plan will use the "Three Ones" approach for each country:
one national HIV/AIDS authority, one national strategic plan and
one system to track and assess the plan's success. It also will
use reliable data to assess the risk, pattern and rate of spread
of the virus and its effect on local areas (AP/Seattle Post-
Intelligencer, 11/30).

The plan focuses attention on women, young people and high-risk
populations (Xinhuanet, 12/1). "The barriers that blunt our col-
lective efforts to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS are a mixture
of long-standing, as well as newly emerging, challenges," World
Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said, adding, "National HIV/AIDS
strategic plans are for the most part not well-devised with
clear priorities; prevention, care, and treatment efforts are
still nowhere near equal to slowing down, or stopping, the vi-
rus; and progress continues to be eroded by pitfalls in manage-
ment and implementation."

The World Bank will continue to serve as a major funder of
HIV/AIDS work in low- and middle-income countries, according to
the plan (World Bank release, 11/30).