Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Thursday December 12, 2002
The International HIV Treatment Access Coalition (ITAC), bringing together a host of organizations ranging from the World Health Organization (WHO) to Brazil's Health Ministry, aims to boost that ratio sharply.
Only some 300,000 AIDS sufferers, or five percent of the total in low- to middle-income countries, have access to HIV-related medicines, compared with almost 100 percent in rich countries.
The United Nations has set a target of boosting the number in treatment in poorer states to three million by 2005. Of the 42 million people infected with HIV, 95 percent live in developing countries. "This should have happened yesterday but at least it is starting now. We have already lost too many lives," Fezeka Ntsukela Kuzwayo, a South African community worker living with the AIDS-causing HIV virus, told a news conference.
Organizers said the coalition would share information on "best practices" in the purchasing and use of medicines, evaluate health programs and keep up the international pressure for cheaper drugs.
"If we continue as we are today, we will never reach the U.N. target," said professor Joep Lange, President of the International AIDS Society and coordinator of the new coalition.
"We need to map out what needs to be done but nobody can do that alone," he said.
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