The Hill News

Fifty years from now, we will look back at this period in U.S. history as a time when the U.S. government, private industry, foundations, and universities, combined forces to effectively fight killer diseases that have plagued civilization for centuries.

Some of the groundbreaking work is easy to pinpoint now. For instance, as we approach World AIDS Day, it is heartening to report on exciting advances in AIDS vaccine research and the development of more than two dozen drugs in the last 15 years to fight the virus, turning the disease from a death sentence to a manageable chronic illness.

Using a host of new tools, we have been able to greatly reduce deaths due to malaria, measles, and meningitis, to name a few diseases, in the developing world. All of these advances have happened in just the last few years.

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