THE GLOBAL FUND CONGRATULATES NOBEL MEDICINE PRIZE WINNERS
Statement by the Executive Director of the Global Fund, Dr Michel Kazatchkine
GENEVA - The Global Fund today warmly welcomes the announcement by the Nobel Foundation that France's Francoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier will share the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.
In its citation, the Nobel Foundation said that "Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier's discovery of HIV and their efforts in fighting the pandemic led to new methods to diagnose infected patients and to screen blood products which has limited the spread of the pandemic and also led to new treatments."
"Many people living with the disease across the world are alive because of the groundbreaking work of Dr Barré-Sinoussi and Dr Montagnier," said Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "Their discovery has changed the face of the disease in rich and poor countries alike. This award is great news for all those who are now working to expand access to prevention and treatment in the poorest countries of the world. I warmly congratulate them both on a very well-deserved honour."
Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, born in 1947, holds a PhD in virology and heads the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Luc Montagnier was born in 1932 and is Director at the World Foundation for Aids Research and Prevention.
Together the two researchers share this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine with German scientist Harald zur Hausen, who discovered the cause of cervical cancer.
###
The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases.
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main source of finance for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 11.5 billion for more than 550 programs in 136 countries. It provides a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, two-thirds for tuberculosis and malaria.
As of June 2008, programs supported by the Global Fund are estimated to have averted more than 2.5 million deaths by providing AIDS treatment for 1.75 million people, TB treatment for 3.9 million people, and by distributing 59 million insecticide-treated bed nets for the prevention of malaria worldwide.
For more information, please contact:
Nicolas Demey - Communications
Office: +41 22 791 59 57
Mobile: +41 79 504 21 34
Email: nicolas.demey@theglobalfund.org
Andrew Hurst - Communications
Office: +41 22 791 86 72
Mobile: +41 79 561 68 07
Email: andrew.hurst@theglobalfund.org
|
