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World 'losing fight against Aids' World 'losing fight against Aids'
(about 2 hours later)
US President George W Bush's top adviser on HIV/Aids has said the world is losing the battle against the virus.US President George W Bush's top adviser on HIV/Aids has said the world is losing the battle against the virus.
Dr Anthony Fauci told a conference in Sydney that progress had been made, but more people were being infected with HIV than were being treated.Dr Anthony Fauci told a conference in Sydney that progress had been made, but more people were being infected with HIV than were being treated.
"For every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing that game, the numbers game," he said."For every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing that game, the numbers game," he said.
Dr Fauci was speaking at a gathering of the world's leading HIV/Aids experts.Dr Fauci was speaking at a gathering of the world's leading HIV/Aids experts.
Three years ago, fewer than 300,000 people in the developing world had access to the anti-retroviral drugs that help treat the deadly virus. name="goback"> class="bodl" href="#table">See HIV and Aids rates around the world
Last year, the figure had risen to 2.2 million, but new infections continue to outpace the global effort to treat and educate patients. Last year, 2.2 million people in the developing world had access to the anti-retroviral drugs that help treat the virus, compared with less than 300,000 people three years ago.
The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled completely in Asia right now Dr Brian Gazzard, British HIV Association "Although we are making major improvements in the access to drugs, clearly prevention must be addressed in a very forceful way," said Dr Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled completely in Asia right now Dr Brian Gazzard British HIV Association
But new infections were continuing to outpace the global effort to treat and educate patients, the conference heard.
Delegates were encouraged by findings that male circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection in young men by 60%.
The study, based on trials in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, forecast that male circumcision would prevent 5.7 million new cases of HIV infection over 20 years in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV/AIDS THREAT The number of people with HIV is expected to rise from around 40 million today to 60 million by 2015Aids has already killed 25 million peopleOnly 28% of the world's HIV/Aids patients are on anti-retroviral drugsJust one in 10 pregnant women with Aids get treatment to stop them transmitting the disease to their unborn children
"We've had one important breakthrough this year, with understanding the role of circumcision in prevention," said Dr Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"We need to do more of that and importantly, we need to make available to the people throughout the world the prevention methods that are proven technologies."
But in many parts of the developing world, effective prevention strategies like condoms and sterile syringes are available to less than 15% of the population.But in many parts of the developing world, effective prevention strategies like condoms and sterile syringes are available to less than 15% of the population.
"The proven prevention modalities are not accessible to any substantial proportion of the people who need them," Dr Fauci said. Epidemic
Declaration plan Dr Fauci's warning at the Fourth International Aids Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment was echoed by other experts.
Dr Fauci's warning was echoed by Dr Brian Gazzard, of the British HIV Association, who said that while advances were being made in extending access to anti-retroviral drugs, the disease was running out of control in parts of Asia and Africa. Dr Brian Gazzard, of the British HIV Association, said that despite greater access to anti-retroviral drugs, the disease was running out of control in parts of Asia and Africa.
"The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled completely in Asia right now," he said."The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled completely in Asia right now," he said.
Only a quarter of the people needing treatment were receiving it, meaning the other three-quarters would continue to spread the epidemic, which was still in its exponential growth stage, Dr Gazzard said.
The Australian conference's 5,000 delegates are drawn from more than 130 countries.The Australian conference's 5,000 delegates are drawn from more than 130 countries.
Participants at the forum are being urged to sign a declaration, aimed at boosting HIV research, which proposes that HIV programmes should devote at least 10% of spending on research. name="table">

class="data416">ADULT AND CHILD HIV RATES IN 2006

   Living with HIV Newly infected Deaths from Aids Sub-Saharan Africa 24.7m 2.8m 2.1m South and South-East Asia 7.8m 860,000 590,000 Eastern Europe and Central Asia 1.7m 270,000 84,000 Latin America 1.7m 140,000 65,000 North America 1.4m 43,000 18,000 East Asia 750,000 100,000 43,000 Western and Central Europe 740,000 22,000 12,000 North Africa and Middle East 460,000 68,000 36,000 Caribbean 250,000 27,000 19,000 Oceania 81,000 7,100 4,000 Total 39.5m 4.3m 2.9m Source: UNAids, all figures estimates
The so-called Sydney Declaration's central message is that governments need to dedicate more resources to HIV research if the world is to effectively combat the Aids pandemic. class="bodl" href="#goback"> Return to top
The document says this will help speed up the implementation of new drugs and technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat an infection which has already killed 25 million people.