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HIV/AIDS: Straight Talk with Stephen Lewis
A former politician, diplomat and aid worker, few people have witnessed the fight against HIV from as many international vantage points as former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis. Now co-director of the international advocacy organization, AIDS-Free World, Lewis spoke to IRIN/PlusNews about the direction of the international response to HIV.
Question: Reduced funding, a lower donor profile, and arguments against AIDS exceptionalism - has the fight against HIV lost momentum?
Answer: The fight against HIV is at a very difficult moment, there's no question and for two reasons. First, the decline in funding could be truly catastrophic by or before the end of this year. Western governments, which are reducing their contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the United States, which is flat-lining the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, do it all on the ostensible rationale of the financial crisis but that's just utter nonsense... The interview.
