Archbishop Tutu calls on Obama to lead the world in expansion of HIV treatment

Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights advocate Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes in a Washington Post opinion piece that President Barack Obama "is in a position to make a game-changing impact on the war against AIDS" and he "should lead the world in a massive effort to expand access to treatment and rid humanity of AIDS -- the most devastating disease of our time." However, "just as the end of AIDS has finally come within reach, we are witnessing an unprecedented drop in financial and political support for the cause," he adds.

"Obama should increase PEPFAR's treatment goal from four million to six million people by 2013. He should then issue a challenge to other leaders -- of donor nations and those countries most affected by HIV/AIDS -- to scale up their contributions," he writes, concluding that with "the world finally possess[ing] affordable tools and scientific knowledge that could stop HIV/AIDS in its tracks," Obama "must take" this "profound opportunity" (9/20).