Testing essential for US global AIDS campaign success

HIV testing is essential if the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is to meet its goals in providing AIDS treatment in developing countries, the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator has said. According to Caroline Ryan, the Office's senior technical adviser for prevention, the US had already made significant progress in the past year, but more needed to be done. Ryan said in a statement that although the project was well on the way to meeting its goals, millions of people still needed to be tested for HIV to maintain PEPFAR's continued success. PEPFAR is a five-year US $15 billion programme that directs funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and the Caribbean.