GENEVA, Dec 12 (AFP) - A group of some 50 non-governmental bodies, international agencies and national governments on Thursday announced the creation of a new alliance to help poor countries gain access to costly treatments to halt the spread of AIDS, the United Nations said.

The UN's World Health Organization said the new International HIV Treatment Access Coalition, or ITAC, would notably seek to make anti-retroviral drugs, which can halt or slow development of the HIV virus, more easily available.

The new alliance, which will also play an advisory and teaching role for poor and middle-income countries, will have its headquarters at the WHO in Geneva, the statement said.

AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a so far incurable condition in which the body's ability to resist disease is destroyed by a virus.

Although there is so far no cure, the hugely expensive -- and so out of reach for many in the developing world -- anti-retroviral drugs can in many cases halt or slow down the progress of the virus, known as HIV, for many years.

Such drugs can also help prevent infected women from passing the infection on to their children.

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