Annan calls for action on AIDS at UN meeting.

T United Nations SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan opened the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS on June 25 in New York and declared that “the world has started to wake up” to the biggest epidemic since bubonic plague swept through Europe in the 14th century. The 3-day conference, the first-ever UN meeting devoted to a publichealth issue, was aimed at drafting a political Declaration of Commitment, and increasing support for a global AIDS fund, the total need for which has been conservatively estimated at US$7–10 billion. Other highlights of the meeting were the tension between prevention and treatment strategies, cultural controversies over categories of high-risk behaviour, and the debate on appropriate responses of individual countries to the crisis. Some 3000 delegates participated in the conference—with presidents and prime ministers of western nations conspicuously absent. 26 presidents and prime ministers who did attend were mainly from African or Caribbean nations. Ministers of state and health often represented their countries; the USA, for example, was represented by Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the UK by Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development. Commitments to the global fund have been modest so far, with the USA pledging $200 million, France $125 million, the UK $100 million, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation $100 million. Carlos Lage Dávila, Vice-President of the Republic of Cuba, noted that 100 times more money than the proposed fund is spent on commercial advertising worldwide, and that 22 individuals around the world each have more money than the fund’s goal, with their combined wealth 43 times greater than its total. He called for the placing of “all the world’s infinite resources in the service of humanity”. In a press conference after his address to the Assembly, Secretary Powell downplayed criticism of the USA’s commitment to the global fund by calling it “seed money”. He said it was always clear that the USA would be adding to its $200 million pledge, which came from the budget for the current fiscal year. Powell said the amount would be increased in years to come. He characterised the timetable, which calls for the fund to be operational by next year, as “quite doable”. Powell affirmed the US government’s