U.S. Offers Africa $1 Billion/Year for HIV [New York Times, July 19, 2000, pg 1]: This press release states that the U.S. will offer sub-Saharan African countries $1 billion in annual loans to fund the purchase of antiretroviral agents and medical services for HIV. A recent estimate from the UN is that the total amount required is $3 billion/year. In related issues, five major producers of antiretroviral agents are offering their drugs at 90% discounts to bring the cost to about $2,000/patient/year (4 x the average per capita income for most countries); the UN has announced a plan of helping African nations buy generic antiretroviral agents from Brazil and India for even less than the discounted prices from the U.S. Jacob Gayle, a senior technical advisor for the UN AIDS Program, has stressed that the AIDS problem in Africa is more complicated than drug purchases since there is a concurrent need for a medical infrastructure. posted 8/3/2000