Aids foundation calls for action from Obama

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) wants one of US president-elect Obama's first tasks to be tackling HIV/Aids.

It has called for $200 million to be spent on test ten million people for the deadly virus over the next three years, reported Market Watch.

According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) there has been an annual increase in the number of people with HIV/Aids in the US.

The figure has jumped to 56,000 from 40,000, the CDC records said.

AHF President Michael Weinstein said: "We urge president-elect Obama and his administration to prioritise this public health crisis by taking simple, straightforward steps to address the domestic HIV/Aids epidemic."

Obama will take up office in January.

Approximately 1.2 million people have been living with HIV/Aids in the US with more than 300,000 unaware of their status.

US Aids charity Avert estimated more than half a million people had died from Aids in the country.

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