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Thursday, January 27, 2005 - Web posted at 7:25:00 GMT Joint effort against AIDS bearing fruit CHRISTOF MALETSKYBY the end of last year some 700 000 people living with AIDS in developing countries were receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART) thanks to the efforts of national governments, donors and other partners. |
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World partners in the fight against the disease yesterday announced an increase of approximately 75 per cent in the total number of people receiving treatment from a year ago. The World Health Organisation (WHO), UNAIDS, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the United States government revealed the results of their joint efforts to increase the availability of ART in poor countries. They underlined that progress had been made because of extensive collaboration and unity of purpose. However, all the organisations warned that major, continued efforts were needed in countries and internationally to continue working towards the goal of access to treatment for all who need it. "We salute the countries who have now shown us that treatment is possible and can be scaled up quickly even in the poorest settings. AIDS treatment access is expanding every day thanks to the dedicated work of doctors, nurses, health workers and people living with HIV and AIDS, who are often working under difficult circumstances to turn the dream of universal treatment into a reality," said Dr Jong-wook Lee, WHO Director-General. The organisations warned that there were still very real challenges to reaching the goal of universal access to treatment. In many countries, the speed of progress had rapidly increased, but to achieve universal access, the international community and national governments need to do much more to translate political and financial commitments into real actions in countries. "Collaboration over the past year has shown that several initiatives can work in tandem to achieve real acceleration. While today's figures are encouraging, the work so far has been laying the groundwork for a much larger expansion in the months and years to come," said Dr Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. WHO and UNAIDS believe the current figures are the most accurate estimates to date. They are based on a composite of numbers given by countries and partners. In the region with the heaviest burden - sub-Saharan Africa - the number of people on treatment has doubled over six months from 150 000 to 310 000. |
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