U.S. must keep up the battle

Saturday is World AIDS Day, set aside to heighten public awareness of the disease and what is being done to stem its deadly tide.

There is some reason for hope on World AIDS Day 2007, as there are indications that the runaway spread of the disease is beginning to slackened in some of the hardest-hit areas of the globe.

Still, 33.2 million people are living with the AIDS virus, HIV, including 2.5 million children. About 2.5 million people became infected in the past year. About half of them are under 25 and will be killed by AIDS before they are 35. Every day 6,000 children lose a parent to AIDS.

About 95 percent of people with AIDS live in poverty-stricken developing nations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Obviously, much work remains to be done in the fight against AIDS.

Congress should reapprove the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). President Bush has asked Congress to double the nation's original commitment of $15 billion for AIDS relief over five years. Among other good works, PEPFAR is funding live-saving antiretroviral drug treatments to 1.36 million people in 15 target countries.

Congress also should pass the Stop TB Now bill, which increases U.S. support for the global effort against tuberculosis. TB, once almost wiped out, has rebounded with a vengeance, in new strains that are more difficult to treat. TB, which flourishes in the weakened immune systems of AIDS sufferers, is the leading killer worldwide of people with AIDS.

Finally, the U.S. should increase support for pediatric AIDS efforts overseas. U.S. scientists and doctors have learned how to stop the mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus. It's time to export to other nations what the U.S. has learned and put into practice.

AIDS may never be completely defeated but it can be battled to a standstill. It is of crucial importance, for both humanitarian and practical reasons, to keep up the good fight.