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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says efforts to increase HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in developing nations are expanding at a steady pace.
During the release of the annual progress report on the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Washington on Wednesday, Rice stressed that prevention was the first line of defence against the pandemic.
Rice said PEPFAR - a $15 billion programme to tackle AIDS in 12 African countries and the Caribbean - would increase its treatment number from 471,000 to 860,000 this fiscal year, which began on 1 October, and to 1.3 million in fiscal 2007 if Congress approved a recently proposed $4 billion AIDS budget.
"It is especially worth noting that 60 percent of these new people being treated are women," she commented.
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