Gordon Irlam 326 A St Redwood City, CA 94063 USA Email: noreply@base.com Phone / Fax: +1 (650) 364-6169 | |
Miles D. White Chairman and CEO Abbott Laboratories 100 Abbott Park Road Abbott Park, IL 60064 |
July 6, 2002 |
Last year a spent some time visiting Tanzania, and got to see up close the tremendous human devastation being wrought by HIV throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The word tragedy doesn't begin to describe what I witnessed. Worldwide, an estimated 3 million died from AIDS last year. A death rate greater than the peak death rate during the Holocaust (an estimated 2.7 million Jews were killed during 1942). Today, anti-retroviral drugs only reach 4% of all people in need of them. Given the huge resources that went into their development, this outcome constitutes a huge institutional and societal failure.
I wish to personally thank both yourself and Abbott, for the steps you have taken, and that you continue to take, in helping address this key test of our common humanity.
Sincerely,
Gordon Irlam