The Daily Tell

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with pharmaceutical company Merck to provide $60 million over the next five years to fight HIV/AIDS in Botswana.

The country, located just above South Africa, has the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the world, second only to nearby Swaziland. An estimated 23.9 percent of the adult population has the disease, and 11,000 of the country’s citizens will die from it every year. These figures reflect only what is officially reported; thousands of others many be infected or dying from HIV/AIDS but are unaware that they are affected and may not be recorded because they cannot reach treatment centers.

Merck, along with the Gates Foundation, is now building on its initial investment of $56.5 million, donated in 2001 to the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships. The two donors will add a $60-million gift to the investment, to be spent over the next five years on care and treatment, as well as on second-phase initiatives to meet the current treatment needs of the 137,000 Batswana – the name for the country’s citizens – living with HIV.

The second phase initiatives include the prevention of HIV, the critical need to treat people living with HIV for tuberculosis and other common infectious diseases and the sustainability of the program to allow Botswana to successfully address HIV/AIDS within its own borders.

"For nearly 10 years, Merck has been a partner in helping the Government of Botswana save the lives of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS and we are confident our new funding will continue to contribute to the well-being of the country," said Richard T. Clark, chairman and CEO of Merck. "This collaboration is a great success story on many levels, and has become a model for many countries both on and off the African continent."

Thanks to donations like those from Merck and the Gates Foundation, the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships have established 32 ARV treatment sites and more than 170 clinics throughout Botswana – allowing 90 percent of Batswana in need to receive treatment.