Vatican condemns high price of anti-AIDS drugs

The Vatican on Thursday condemned the "genocidal action" of drug manufacturers who made massive profits from the sale of antiretroviral drugs in developing countries. It expressed concern that millions of HIV-positive people in sub-Saharan Africa were dying because they still could not afford the drugs. Father Angelo D'Agostino, who heads an AIDS orphanage in Kenya, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying: "Today, at least 400 people die in Kenya every day because of AIDS. Yet in Europe and North America it is no longer a fatal disease, it is only a chronic disease." The church blasted the companies for their "lack of social conscience" and called for global public pressure to force them to lower their prices.