GENEVA, Dec 1 (AFP) - The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Saturday the world was now ready to stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic in its tracks but warned the fight would be long.

To mark World AIDS Day, Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO director-general, said it had taken time to fully understand the disease and develop a unified response. Money and access to drugs have also been lacking, she said.

"Over the past year we have seen the start of a real change," she said, adding that governments around the world had started to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its devastation for their people with a new openness.

Brundtland said the last 12 months had seen political commitment to act, with world leaders making declarations at international gatherings on their determination to stem the pandemic.

"Prices of life-saving medicines for those living with HIV, including antiretrovirals, have been greatly reduced," she said in a written statement.

Developing countries' ability to take advantage of the flexibility of the World Trade Organisation's agreement on patent protection was reaffirmed by trade ministers in Doha, Qatar, last month, she pointed out.

And new funds are starting to become available. Brundtland highlighted the Global Fund for AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis which she described as a "groundbreaking mechanism" for bringing together the public and private sectors, plus non-governmental organisations.

"The world is now ready to turn back the epidemic learning from those who have blazed a trail, scaling up best practice and confronting AIDS systematically," she said.

"It will be a long fight."

She pointed out that the number of people with HIV had again increased, and was higher than thought among children, but she said the coming year could be a turning point in the fight.

"We have the means and the political will to achieve results," she said.

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