GLOBAL: Greater access to ARVs, but much more to be done

JOHANNESBURG, 2 June 2008 (PlusNews) - But the bad news is that according to a new report by the World Health Organisation, UNAIDS and UNICEF, Towards Universal Access: Scaling up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector, released on 2 June, many of the world's countries are still far from meeting their goal to provide universal access.

The report noted that an estimated 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV last year and, despite progress made, just under a third of people who need treatment in low- and middle-income countries were receiving it in 2007.

The number of people receiving ARVs jumped by 54 percent in 2007 alone, and over two million people taking ARVs were living in sub-Saharan Africa. Although patient survival rates have increased with the greater availability of ARVs, mortality during the first six months of treatment remained "unacceptably high", as many people living with the virus were unable to access services until it was too late.

Tuberculosis was another major challenge: according to the report, about 12 percent of deaths among people living with HIV worldwide were due to TB. South Africa, for example, is home to less than one percent of the world's population, but accounts for 28 percent of the total number of people co-infected with HIV and TB.

Prevention efforts were also lagging. "The health sector must look beyond simply providing HIV treatment, care and support, to playing a much stronger role in the promotion and delivery of HIV prevention services," the report suggested.

Read the full article here http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78523