Aids figures staggering
2004-07-06 10:59
London - New HIV infections hit a record high last year as the virus continues to outpace the global effort to contain it, according to a bi-annual UN report published on Tuesday.
The number of people living with the Aids virus has risen in every region of the world. Last year, five million people became infected - more than in any single year since the crisis began. Nine out of 10 who urgently need treatment are not getting it and prevention is still only reaching one in five people who should have it, the report said.
"The virus is running faster than all of us," said UNAids chief Dr Peter Piot.
This year's report provides the most accurate picture yet of HIV's march across the planet. It says new epidemics seem to be spreading unchecked in Eastern Europe and Asia. To tackle the pandemic, US$12bn a year is needed by next year, instead of the US$10bn that was predicted earlier.
In more revised estimates based on better information than was previously available, the UN Aids agency figures that about 38 million people are infected. Until now, experts had put the ranks of the HIV afflicted at about 40 million.
The cost estimates have increased at the same time that the estimated size of the problem has decreased partly because of the price of delaying action, but also because the planned campaign is now more comprehensive than it has ever been, Piot said.
"We didn't really fully appreciate the importance of a number of things, like the danger of spreading HIV through normal medical equipment. That's a new cost. Also, protecting health care workers is more expensive than we thought and ... the cost of taking care of orphans was grossly underestimated before," Piot said.
Successes
However, there have been triumphs.
Many countries, including Brazil, Uganda and Thailand, have reduced HIV infection. Drug prices have dropped dramatically and money is beginning to flow in for the global effort. More politicians are showing commitment to the fight and drugs are becoming increasingly available in poor countries.
Among the major challenges are women and young people's vulnerability to the disease; ensuring the virus doesn't become immune to drugs; keeping health workers in the developing world; and tackling stigma and looking after children orphaned by the disease. In some places the size of the health work force needs to quadruple, the report found.
Money remains a significant problem. Funding has increased to about US$5bn a year in 2003, but that is still less than half of what is needed.
By 2007, US$20bn a year will be needed to tackle the problem in developing countries. That money would provide drugs for six million people, Aids tests for 100 million adults, HIV education in schools and care for 22 million Aids orphans, the report said.
More than 20 million people have died since the disease was first diagnosed in 1981 and about 3 million people are dying each year, the report said.
- AP