Universal Treatment - Not Yet

posted: 04/10/2010

World leaders pledged to make sure everyone who needed HIV treatment would be receiving this by the end of 2010 - but that target will be missed. While more lives are being saved from HIV than ever and eight developing countries now give drug treatment to all those who need it, two thirds of the people in the world who need HIV treatment are still not getting this.
 

Treated and untreated

About 5.2 million people with HIV now receive HIV treatment that keeps people not simply alive, but fit and well – an increase of more than 1.2 million people in a year, says the report from the World Health Organisation, Unicef and UNAids. More than a third of those who need the drugs (36%) are now taking them.
 

Sub-Saharan Africa, the worst-affected region, saw the biggest increase in HIV treatment supply, from 2.9 million people in December 2008 to 3.9 million at the end of last year. Botswana, Cambodia, Croatia, Cuba, Guyana, Oman, Romania and Rwanda now provide universal access to HIV treatments – defined as giving the drugs to at least 80% of those who need them. The goal world leaders set themselves was worldwide universal access by the end of 2010. Experts believe 14.6m people in total need HIV treatment.
 

Spend more

The joint progress report is from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN's AIDS programme and UNICEF. It warns that poorer countries must "substantially ramp up" what they spend on HIV.
“Most countries need to look seriously into increasing their domestic spending on HIV/AIDS” said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall of the World Health Organisation.
The report says there have been "hard-won gains" - but it also makes clear how much work remains to be done. "Zimbabwe has increased access by 50% in the past year - despite being heavily compromised, politically and economically. And South Africa has had an incredible catch-up phase, despite being a late starter. But given those success stories, we need to sustain the momentum - and be smarter in making the case."
 

UNAIDS recommends that countries most affected by the virus should allocate between 0.5% and 3% of their government revenue to tackling the problem. Dr Hirnschall said: "Most of the countries that need to do this aren't yet reaching the 0.5% mark. "They have to chip in their own resources and look seriously into increasing their domestic spending, to better complement external funding."
 

The report’s authors say: "Millions of people are alive today as a result of investments in HIV over the past few years. Yet … the global economic crisis has put the sustainability of many HIV programmes at risk. After years of considerable increases in international assistance, funding remained essentially flat over the current period."

Sources
BBC       Guardian