Global screening scheme ‘could rid world of Aids within 40 years’

A GLOBAL mass-population screening programme could rid the world of the scourge of Aids within 40 years, it was claimed.

Testing most of the world’s population for HIV, then treating those found to be infected would halt transmission of the virus by 2015, says South African expert Professor Brian Williams.

By 2050, when a large proportion of HIV carriers undergoing treatment will have died, the epidemic would effectively be over, he argues. The price would be enormous, costing around £2 billion (€2.3bn) in South Africa alone. But this would be offset by eradicating the massive disease burden of HIV/Aids, and saving the lives of productive, working-age individuals, Prof Williams believes.