Drive to increase HIV drug access

HIV drugs are now highly effective

A drive has been launched to increase the number of people with HIV/Aids in the developing world who get access to potentially life-prolonging drugs.

At present just one in 20 people who are infected with HIV in poor countries is able to take advantage of drugs that are widely available to people in richer nations.

Does anyone deserve to be sentenced to certain death because she or he cannot access care that costs less than $2 a day?

Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland

The International HIV Treatment Access Coalition (ITAC) has been set up to try to tackle this inequality.

The group includes a wide range of more than 50 groups, from the World Health Organization to Brazil's Health Ministry.

It is estimated that just 300,000 people with Aids in low or middle income countries have access to HIV-related medicines.

The United Nations aims to raise this figure to 3 million by 2005.

Health crisis

Of the 42 million people infected with HIV, 95% live in developing countries. In the worst affected countries, over a third of the adult population is now infected with HIV.

Speaking at a news conference to launch the new group, Fezeka Ntsukela Kuzwayo, a South African community worker who has been infected with HIV, said: "This should have happened yesterday but at least it is starting now.

"We have already lost too many lives."

The ITAC will disseminate information on how best to purchase and use HIV medications.

It will also evaluate health programmes and keep up the international pressure for cheaper drugs.

Joep Lange, president of the International Aids Society and coordinator of the new coalition, said: "If we continue as we are today, we will never reach the UN target.

"We need to map out what needs to be done but nobody can do that alone."

Reduced illness

Although they are not a cure, antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) inhibit replication of HIV and boost the immune system's ability to fight infections.

In all countries where ARVs have become widely available to people living with HIV/Aids since 1996, they have led to a dramatic reduction in HIV-related illness and death.

However, although the number of people on ARV treatment increased by nearly two thirds in sub-Saharan Africa in 2002, only 1% of the 4.1 million people living with HIV/Aids in the region who need treatment now can get ARV medicines.

WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland said, "Does anyone deserve to be sentenced to certain death because she or he cannot access care that costs less than $2 a day?

"Is anyone's life worth so little? Should any family become destitute as a result? Should children be orphaned? The answers must be no, no, no and no."