“Canada must do more to help in global HIV prevention” —Allan Ronald
2010-06-18Dr. Allan Ronald told a crowd of HIV/AIDS researchers at the 2010 CAHR Conference that Canada must do more to bolster its international HIV prevention efforts.
“Canada has no unified strategy for HIV prevention,” he said. “Canada should be ashamed, especially when compared to the United States, which is giving about $5 billion in 2010. Comparably, [Canada] should be giving 10 percent of what the U.S. gives.”
The Canadian International Development Agency spends about $142 million a year on international HIV/AIDS programs. Ronald feels that contribution should be increased over time to the level of about $500 million. “Right now, our contribution is a Big Mac per Canadian,” he said after accepting the Red Ribbon Award for lifetime achievement in HIV/AIDS research. “We can easily increase that.”
Ronald, who 30 years ago founded the alliance between the University of Manitoba and the University of Kenya, has for the past 10 years been working in Uganda with the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa. Over the years, Canadian universities have been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS research. “There has been a lot of progress made,” he notes. In Uganda, for example, the rate of HIV infection among adults fell to six percent in 2007 from 14 percent in 1990. The scaling up of HIV treatments thanks to the Global Fund and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has also been an enormous help.
However, in order to succeed, Ronald stresses, these programs need to be sustained, and Canada needs to have a unified strategy. “We can’t just take two or three pieces — and push circumcision or condom use or maternal health — we need them all and they need to be well understood.”