PHA-Exch> Peter Piot to Leave UN AIDS Agency After 13 Years

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" <health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au
>

sent to health-vn MDG List by Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aeRQEUt4_Jqs&refer=home

Peter Piot to Leave UN AIDS Agency After 13 Years (Update1)
By John Lauerman

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Piot, who fought to expand AIDS treatment and
prevention in the world's poorest countries, will step down after 13 years
as executive director of the United Nations' UNAIDS program.

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon revealed Piot's decision in an address to the
General Assembly at the UN 2008 High-Level Meeting on AIDS today in New
York. Piot, 59, who co-discovered the deadly Ebola virus in 1976, said he
will give up his position at the end of the year.

Piot's work has helped raise the number of people getting antiviral drugs in
poor countries to 3 million, although more than twice as many people go
without such treatment, Ban said in his speech. Just seven years ago, only
about 200,000 citizens of these nations were getting treatment, most of them
in Brazil, and almost none in Africa, Piot said.

``These are hard facts,'' he said in an interview at the UN today. ``There
are definitely results on the ground.''

Piot said his biggest accomplishments were to increase attention to AIDS at
the UN and in government offices around the world by showing the disease
spans health and economics. That led to more money becoming available for
prevention and treatment programs, such as the $15-billion U.S. President's
Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, he said.

``I had three goals when I took this job,'' he said. ``One was to put AIDS
on the agenda, two was to form a broad coalition, and three was to mobilize
the money.''

Up for Reauthorization

The President's AIDS program, or PEPFAR, is now up for reauthorization by
the U.S. Congress. Nations must provide more money and resources to treat
and prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS and infects more than 33 million
people worldwide, Ban said.

``We need more leaders like Dr. Piot in every sector of society,'' he said
in his speech. ``Thank you very much for your commitment and leadership.''

Selection of Piot's successor is in the hands of the Chair of UNAIDS Program
Coordinating Board, which is currently the U.S., said Mahesh Mahalingam, a
UNAIDS spokesman. He said the final decision is up to Ban. Piot, who said he
will probably take a job in academia, declined to name a potential
successor.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20080611/0a575248/attachment-0001.html>