Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewsMedia - November 28, 2005
Andrew Quinn
At least 4 million people still desperately need anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition said in a report on the failure of the United Nations "3 by 5" AIDS initiative.
"In South Africa and in countless other countries, we have been working for more than a decade to ensure HIV treatment access," Zackie Achmat, founder of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, said in a statement.
"In that time millions have died because of lack of access to drugs, and millions more will die if we do not achieve universal access by 2010."
The head of the World Health Organisation's HIV/AIDS programme on Monday apologised for failing to meet the global target, but said he believed the programme had highlighted the need for expanding AIDS treatment.
"All we can do is apologise," Dr Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with the BBC. "I think we have to just admit we've not done enough and we started way too late."
The U.N. AIDS body UNAIDS said last week that about 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with new infections increasing at one of the fastest rates since the first reported case in 1981.
The activists' report examined delays in HIV/AIDS treatment in six countries hit hard by the global pandemic: South Africa, the Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Russia.
BUREAUCRATIC BOTTLENECKS
It said bureaucratic bottlenecks and poor political leadership were slowing provision of ARVs, citing as an example a struggle over funds between different agencies in the Dominican Republic.
Lack of a national treatment protocol in Russia, which has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world, hampered the response there, it said.
A lack of healthcare workers, poor funding and the stigma surrounding people infected with HIV/AIDS were also blamed for delays in treatment as was lack of political leadership.
South Africa's government, coping with the world's single highest HIV/AIDS caseload with more than 5 million infections, "continues to drag its feet and fails to combat misinformation and pseudo-science," the report said.
Practical problems and limited drug supplies were also slowing South Africa's treatment programme, it added.
The report said efforts to broaden AIDS drug treatment, with a goal of universal access by 2010, were unlikely to be met without a new approach by policymakers especially in bodies such as UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
"The 3 by 5 initiative failed to treat even 50 percent of the people in need of antiretroviral treatment. If the organisations responsible for carrying out this programme are to accomplish an even greater goal in five years' time it will take courageous new leadership," the report said.
Chris Collins, a member of the treatment research group, said coordination among various U.N. agencies was crucial and that UNAIDS, which is convening a meeting on treatment options in January, should lead development of a global response to the treatment issue.
"Institutional turf battles be damned," Collins said in a conference call announcing the report. "Somebody has to stand up and do it, and I think UNAIDS is well placed to do it."
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