Senior US official urges global AIDS partnership

The US Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator, Randall Tobias, ended his recent visit to Uganda with a call for a global partnership in the fight against the pandemic. At a meeting with senior government officials in the capital, Kampala, he said the battle against AIDS could only be won by a combined effort. The local Monitor newspaper quoted Tobias as saying, "All countries and communities should come together and pool resources and knowledge to address this terrible disease, and bring hope, comfort and healing in the lives of those affected by the pandemic." Tobias also commended Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for his part in reducing the HIV prevalence rate from 30 percent to less than 7 percent over the last decade.