Associated Press - December 1, 2003

The World Health Organization and UNAIDS promised cheaper drugs, simpler treatment regimens and more money as part of a major campaign launched Monday in Nairobi to provide 3 million HIV-infected people with the latest drugs available by the end of 2005, an effort that will cost US$5.5 billion.

WHO also certified a new, innovative generic drug for use in treating HIV. The tablet combines three essential anti-retroviral drugs into one pill that is taken twice a day.

The pills are manufactured by two India-based generic drug makers and cost patients only $270 a year, but violates patents held by major drug manufacturers. In order to legally import the drugs, countries must suspend the rights of the patent holder.

WHO and UNAIDS promised to promote international agreements to streamline treatment programs.

"In two short decades, HIV/AIDS has become the premiere disease of mass destruction," Dr. Jack Chow, the assistant director-general of WHO, said.

Medecins sans Frontieres, which has led efforts to simplify HIV treatment protocols, welcomed the WHO and UNAIDS announcement, but said funding will be critical to the initiative's success.

"The treatment has to be free, if the treatment is not free they will not meet their goals," Dr. Morten Rostrup, president of the medical aid group's international council, said.

Thousands of activists joined marches and a large rally in downtown Nairobi Monday to show support for people infected with HIV and to demand access to essential drugs.

More than 40 million people are infected with HIV and 3 million have died in 2003, according to UNAIDS. WHO estimates more than 5 million HIV patients need anti-retroviral drugs, but fewer than 400,000 currently have access to them.

Anti-retroviral drugs allow HIV patients to live a relatively normal life by preventing them from developing full-blown AIDS. While the drugs improve patients' health, they remain infected and can transmit the disease.

The Indian government announced plans Monday to provide free anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS patients, a "significant scale-up" in the fight against the disease in the country that has the world's second largest number of HIV-infected people. Until now, the Indian government has focused on prevention, but starting April 1, 2004, it will offer free drugs at government hospitals.

Under the program, the government will buy generic drugs from Indian manufacturers at a negotiated low price. In the first year, the government will spend 2 billion rupees ($1=INR46.01000) to cover 100,000 patients in the six worst-hit Indian states.
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