Responding to AidsNearly a million people in developing countries are receiving drug treatments for HIV and Aids, more than double the number 18 months ago, but global health officials conceded yesterday they would still fall short of their goal of treating three million people by the end of the year.
The increase in treatment was greatest in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, expanding over 60 per cent in the past six months to reach an estimated 500,000 people, according to a report from the World Health Organisation and the UN Aids programme.
However, the global effort to provide life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to patients has been hampered by a shortage of trained health workers, a lack of a robust public health system in many countries and a persistent problem in raising money, the report said.
"Progress hasn't been fast enough," said Dr Jim Yong Kim, director of the WHO's HIV/Aids efforts.
The report is the latest update on the 3-by-5 initiative, a joint program begun in 2003 by WHO and UNAids to provide anti-retroviral drugs to three million people in developing countries by the end of 2005.
"Drug delivery is a major issue," Dr Kim said. "The volume of treatments is more than [ some underdeveloped countries] have handled in almost any other area."
The initiative also faces serious financial problems, he said. It will take an estimated $45 billion to continue the programme through 2007. Only $27 billion has been pledged by donor countries, leaving a shortfall of $18 billion.
The report estimates there are now 5.5 million people in greatest need for the drugs that have yet to receive them. This is a fraction of the estimated 39 million people around the world with the virus.