Britain pledges 12 billion dollars to combat AIDS

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Britain on Monday pledged six billion pounds (7.6 billion euros, 11.8 billion dollars) to improve health services and systems in developing countries in a bid to combat AIDS.

The seven-year commitment announced by International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is in addition to one billion pounds already earmarked for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"If we are to achieve universal access, and to halt and reverse the spread of AIDS, the evidence demonstrates that we require a long-term approach, across a range of health systems and services," Alexander said in a written statement to the House of Commons.

He said the six-billion-pound commitment "demonstrates (Britain)'s determination to remain at the forefront of...