News

29th November 2003

Funding for EU AIDS studies must not be cut

Health experts have reacted in dismay to the news that the European Commission is to withdraw funding from studies on how fast HIV/AIDS, TB and other major communicable diseases are spreading across Europe.

Recent reports have shown that AIDS and TB are growing in Western and Eastern Europe. These reports come from the very organisations that are now to be closed. MEPs have called on the Commission to appear before the Parliament's Health and Environment Committee when it meets in Brussels next week.

Dr Caroline Jackson, Conservative MEP and Chairman of the Health and Environment Committee in the European Parliament, said:

"We are demanding a full explanation of this extraordinary situation from the Commission, and will hold our investigation next week on World AIDS day.

The Commission's timing is quite devastating, especially given the evidence of waste and fraud in other sections of the EU budget. This means that money that could have been spent on research into how fast AIDS and TB are spreading, and why this is happening, is going down the drain."

John Bowis MEP, Conservative Health Spokesman in the European Parliament, said:

"Next week the European Parliament will be discussing the establishment of a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The Centre will put surveillance of communicable diseases on a surer footing, but it is important not to have a gap in HIV and TB surveillance between now and when the Centre is established."