HIV prevention drugs are Gates foundation's top priority

TORONTO — Bill and Melinda Gates, whose foundation has contributed nearly $2 billion to fight AIDS, said Sunday that the search for HIV prevention drugs could be the "next big breakthrough" in combating the disease.

The couple was joining more than 24,000 scientists, activists, celebrities, HIV-positive people and humanitarians for a conference on how to combat the disease that has killed 25 million people since the first case was reported a quarter of a century ago.

Gates, who recently announced he would step down from his day-to-day duties at Microsoft Corp. and devote more time to philanthropy, said the search for a vaccine to prevent the virus that causes AIDS was now the foundation's top priority.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given $1.9 billion to support HIV/AIDS projects worldwide since 1995 and announced last week a $500 million grant to the Global Fund to fight AIDS.

"We want to call on everyone here and around the world to help speed up what we hope will be the next big breakthrough in the fight against AIDS — the discovery of a microbicide or an oral prevention drug that can block the transmission of HIV," the couple said in prepared remarks they planned to present at the opening ceremony of the 16th International AIDS Conference.

"This could mark a turning point in the epidemic, and we have to make it an urgent priority," they added.

The conference drew 24,000 scientists, activists, politicians and health workers from 132 countries.

Microbicides are gels or creams women can use to block infections and disease. Sixteen microbicides are being clinically evaluated; five are in major advanced studies.

The couple called for greater advocacy to break the "cruel stigma" of AIDS for women in impoverished nations who typically have little say over their own sex lives or health.

"We need tools that will allow women to protect themselves," said Gates. "This is true whether the woman is a faithful married mother of small children, or a sex worker trying to scrape out a living in a slum. No matter where she lives, who she is, or what she does — a woman should never need her partner's permission to save her own life."

Melinda Gates said the couple visited an AIDS hospice in southern India last December and noticed the wards were divided by gender; the male ward filled with families and flowers.