Thank you for that question, actually. It's a very good one.
HIV remains a significant crisis on this planet, yet it feels as though people are getting a bit tired of talking about it, which is too bad.
From the studies I've seen, there are indications that women who are pregnant with HIV are seven times more likely to die than women who are not. So HIV remains a critical issue in terms of women, but also in terms of the global toll of deaths and illness.
I think there's a significant opportunity. I think we're kind of looking at the G8, but we need to look beyond that in terms of Canada's role. The MDG summit is coming up in September. There are other dominoes in line and things that we need to address leading up to that.
I was actually at a session hosted just this week that talked about Canada's contribution to the international microbicides initiative and also to the international AIDS vaccine initiative, and that contribution has stalled. I think there is some interest there in looking into that, because that contribution has dimmed.
But also, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is up for replenishment in the fall. About half the people who have HIV in Africa who have, they suggest, been diagnosed and are on antiretrovirals...about half of those are due to the Global Fund support. So this is a critical year for the Global Fund in October. Just looking past the G8, to October, we should be thinking about our Global Fund investments as well.