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U.S. AIDS program saved million African lives: study
"It has averted deaths -- a lot of deaths -- with about a 10 percent reduction compared with neighboring African countries,"
- Dr. Eran Bendavid of Stanford University School of Medicine
A U.S. program launched during the Bush administration has cut AIDS deaths by 10 percent in targeted African nations compared to their neighbors and saved more than a million lives, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
The study tracked AIDS deaths and HIV infections in 12 African countries getting aid under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, during the four years after it was launched in 2003 as a five-year, $15 billion effort.
Bendavid said the 10 percent decline translates to about 1.1 to 1.2 million deaths that have been prevented.