The news that a leading US pharmaceutical company, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), is planning to spend $100 million on a programme of AIDS research, treatment and education targeting women and children in southern Africa (see page 96) is to be welcomed.

It is true that an $18 billion company like BMS can readily afford such an investment. Cynically, one might suggest that the move has been timed to coincide with preparations by the World Health Assembly to take a vote that would encourage governments of poorer countries to ignore patents on expensive AIDS medicines and license the in-country manufacture of cheaper generics. It can be seen in a longer-term perspective: by adopting the moral high ground ahead of its competitors, BMS may be positioning itself well for the vast demand for anti-AIDS drugs that is unfortunately likely to open up in the continent in the years ahead.

But the fact that BMS's largesse may have been informed by bottom-line considerations doesn't remove the value of its gesture. The money will be used to train doctors, help AIDS orphans and fund $44 million of clinical research. Its arrival calls attention to the fact that four out of five AIDS deaths worldwide have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to about two-thirds of the estimated 34 million people currently afflicted by AIDS.

Against that backdrop, one can hope that the BMS initiative will encourage other drug companies to play a part in addressing Africa's AIDS crisis. Future initiatives should involve all the major pharmaceutical companies, as well as national health authorities, the funding bodies responsible for health care, and perhaps even non-health organizations that stand to lose financially from an unchecked AIDS epidemic, with the goal of making essential medicines available to Africans at an affordable cost.