$100-Million Gift to Fight AIDS

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, a New York pharmaceutical maker, has announced plans to spend $100-million to help African women and children afflicted with the AIDS virus. The money will be directed to efforts in five countries — Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.

The money, which will be distributed over five years, will pay for a new program created by the company, called Secure the Future. The program will be run in partnership with UNAIDS, an arm of the United Nations, and American and African medical schools.

Only one grant under the new program has so far been announced: $2.5-million to Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital to help train health-care workers in Africa.

Details of the program were still being worked out last week, but a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers says that the company plans to spend about $60-million on research and medical training and about $40-million on education and support for women and children with the AIDS virus. Ninety per cent of the money will be spent in Africa, she says, including grants to local non-profit groups that provide counseling, economic assistance, and other services to women and children with the disease.

The spokeswoman says that an unspecified portion of the $100-million commitment will be made in the form of in-kind contributions, including free Bristol-Myers AIDS medicine for people involved in clinical trials. However, she says, the program is not intended to include other drug handouts or discounts.

For more information, go to the program’s Web site at http://www.securethefuture.com.