The U.S. secretary of health and human services praised South Africa's new national AIDS plan on Sunday, but sidestepped questions on the dismissal of the country's deputy health minister who had been a driving force behind the program, according to AP. South Africa «has constructed a good plan,» Mike Leavitt said at the start of a visit to South Africa, where nearly 1,000 people die each day of AIDS and an additional 1,400 are infected with the AIDS virus. «Now it must be executed in a way that makes good on the prospects it offers and the hope it can provide.» Leavitt was on a four-nation tour to highlight U.S. health care programs in Africa with a focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria, two of the biggest killers in Africa. His visit follows President George W. Bush's call to Congress to double the initial US$15 billion (¤11 billion) funding of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. The program helps provide treatment for 1.1 million people worldwide, with more than a million in Africa.
