Last year the terrifying HIV infection claimed another 4.8 million victims around the world, bringing the estimated global total of people affected to a staggering 38 million. To date, since first diagnosed in 1981, AIDS has killed 20 million.
The crisis is at its worst in sub-Saharan Africa, with 25 million infected, but is spreading fastest in eastern Europe. According to the United Nations only seven per cent of those infected in the developing world are receiving life-prolonging drugs.
Against this background of a scourge that is wrecking economies and societies alike, the 15th International AIDS Conference is taking place in Bangkok. The presence of 17,000 scientists, politicians and activists should act as a wake-up call to Asia. For too long there denial, stigma, and discrimination have delayed action to stem a disease that has infected 7.4 million and is in danger, in the words of the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, of "spinning out of control".
With the UN reporting that its Global Fund, launched in 2002, is likely to face a 50 per cent funding gap in meeting its 2007 target of $20 billion, the news that the US is limiting its contribution next year to $200 million is particularly disappointing. (Ireland has contributed $30 million over the last three years and has also been urged to raise its contribution next year.)
The fund pays for 300 programmes in 130 countries, while the majority of US AIDS cash is being funnelled to President Bush's $15 billion President's Emergency Plan. This ambitious programme aims to treat some 2 million with anti-retroviral drugs and prevent seven million new infections in the next five years. But it is targeted at only 15 countries - although they account for 70 per cent of new infections - and its emphasis in prevention work is on abstinence instead of condoms, enraging many working in the field. There are concerns too that the US programme has succumbed to commercial pressure in requiring the generic drugs it will pay for to be specifically approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The US denies its approach reflects another go-it-alone approach to world problems; but yesterday Mr Annan urged it to show the same determination in fighting AIDS as it has displayed in fighting terrorism. "We hear a lot about weapons of mass destruction, we hear a lot about terrorism," he told the BBC. "And we are worried about weapons of mass destruction because of the potential to kill thousands. Here we have an epidemic that is killing millions. We really do need a leadership. America has a natural leadership capacity because of its resources, because of its size," he said. His call should be heeded.