Ambitious AIDS treatment efforts announced

Benin is to provide free antiretrovirals to 6,000 people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of the year. The government has joined former US President Bill Clinton's 'HIV/AIDS Initiative Procurement Consortium' in order to gain access to low-cost drugs for meeting its ambitious treatment target. "Although the adult prevalence rate of 2 percent is relatively low for the [6.6 million] population, the government is undertaking aggressive efforts to combat the disease and provide high-quality care and treatment," the Clinton Foundation said in a statement. Malawi, which has an estimated adult HIV prevalence of 14.2 percent and is facing a much larger epidemic, has also partnered with the initiative to give 80,000 people access to treatment by 2006.