U.S. defence contactors bidding on AIDS drugs program for Africa.WASHINGTON -- The U.S. defence industry is about to expand its portfolio from military hardware and infrastructure to bidding for contracts worth $7 billion to set up a supply-chain management system to distribute AIDS drugs in 15 African countries that were targeted by President Bush's AIDS plan announced in 2003 says health reporter Brenda Wilson for NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. . So far, Wilson notes, very little has been spent of the plan's $15 billion in AIDS relief with only about 25,000 people receiving treatment compared with the tens of millions of people infected in·fect tr.v. in·fect·ed, in·fect·ing, in·fects 1. To contaminate with a pathogenic microorganism or agent. 2. To communicate a pathogen or disease to. 3. To invade and produce infection in. with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. in the 15 African countries. In order to "quickly ramp up Ramp Up To increase a company's operations in anticipation of increased demand. Notes: A company might 'ramp up' operations if they just signed a contract creating substantially more demand for their product. See also: Demand, Economies of Scale treatment to two million people," the Bush administration is finalizing proposal requests for companies to bid on establishing a drug supply system through which AIDS drugs would be shipped, tracked, stored and dispensed in the targeted countries. In turn, this "could mean lasting profits in the range of several hundred million dollars a year to the company that gets into Africa first to build new infrastructures and drug-distribution channels," Wilson says. Many AIDS activists expressed concern that the Bush administration is ignoring already well established agencies, such as the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria malaria, infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent. Malaria is common in Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries, Asia, and many of the Pacific islands. , and will cause duplication and waste by building parallel drug distribution systems. They are also concerned about health workers in Africa becoming "associated with American military interests, especially at a time when the U.S. is involved in a war in Iraq, which does not have popular support in most of these countries." Among the companies interested in the contract are Nothrop Grummond, and Dyncorp of the CSC (Card Security Code) A three- or four-digit number printed on the back of credit cards for security purposes. Called "Card Verification Value" (CVV) by Visa, "Card Validation Code" (CVC) by MasterCard and "Card Identification (CID) by American Express and Discover, company along with information technology companies, such as IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Chemonics. As well, the defence contractors have enlisted support from U.A. health specialists in preparing for their bids, who in fact would be the subcontractors setting up the infrastructures and drug supply systems. |
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