| Dr Cardoso urged
the global community to learn from Brazil's
example. Through education, basic health care and providing
anti-retroviral drugs to all infected
people, he said, Brazil has halved
the death rate from AIDS. He was scathing
about the US approach of emphasising
sexual abstinence and fidelity rather than condom use. Such policies,
he said, promote a sense of security
among people in long-term relationships who don't then use condoms.
Through their partners' infidelities, many go on to contract
HIV.
Also speaking at the opening was Marie-Jose Mbuzenakamwe, an
activist from Burundi, who lambasted
the world's richer nations for not putting money into the global
fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. She told the conference that
at least ninety-thousand people in Burundi need anti-retrovirals
- about one-thousand are receiving them. The G8 countries, she
said, have no trouble making speeches about the seriousness of
the epidemic though not one has respected
its commitments.
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urged: tried very hard to persuade
Brazil's example: what Brazil has
done
anti-retroviral drugs: drugs which
are used to treat HIV - they slow the spread of the virus in a
person's body
halved: reduced by 50%
scathing about: very critical of
emphasizing: focusing on
promote a sense of security: create
a feeling that you are safe and protected against something
contract: become infected with
lambasted: reprimanded, told off
respected its commitments: done what it promised to do
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