Africa Notes: U.S. Policy on AIDS/TB: A Need for More Global Focus? - October 1994

To a physician caring for wealthy HIV-infected patients in the developed world, the news from the Tenth International Conference on AIDS might seem optimistic. It is now clear, for instance, that infected women can reduce the risk to their babies by AZT therapy. Average life expectancy of patients diagnosed with AIDS in the developed world has increased from six months to more than three years during the last decade (Paul Abrahams, "Trials Raise Hope of Breakthrough Drug," Financial Times [London], August 12, 1994). An expanding arsenal of pharmaceuticals may enable physicians to control HIV infection for longer periods, although problems could arise due to adverse drug interactions and the ever-escalating costs of multiple-drug treatments.