Efforts to Combat AIDS Need to Be Strengthened, not Diminished

UNITAID welcomes and fully supports the new Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) report 'Punishing Success? Early Signs of a retreat from Commitment to HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment', a timely plea for global leaders to remain firmly committed to achieving universal treatment coverage for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Ten years of global efforts and dedicated funding have put over four million people on HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries. In the process, millions of others have benefited from better equipped health facilities and the increased resources for health largely mobilized by HIV/AIDS. 

However, another six million people currently in need of life-saving AIDS medicines - almost two million of them children - are still waiting. And the current rate of HIV transmission indicates that even more patients will be in need of treatment in the next decades, including newer, more effective medicines to combat resistant strains of the disease. 

Some recent trends in global health thinking advocate for a reduction in spending for HIV/AIDS in a difficult economic climate in favour of other health priorities. However, the financial crisis, said Jorge Bermudez, UNITAID Executive Secretary, "should not be used as an excuse to renege on commitments. Rather, we need to redistribute resources in such a way that saving economies does not imperil lives."

HIV/AIDS constitutes as much as 50% of illness and death in high prevalence countries. Not addressing it, or reducing existing interventions, will not only cause more deaths, it will actually put unsustainable pressure on already weak health systems. 

The MSF report shows that targeting HIV/AIDS has achieved real results, including benefits for other health priorities such as child and maternal health, added Jorge Bermudez.  Not only do we need to keep up the momentum on AIDS, we need to create the same momentum for other health priorities.

See the MSF report: http://www.msfaccess.org/