Massive leaps in world Aids treatment

Double the number of people were tested for HIV in dozens of countries last year, improving the detection of Aids and leading the number of people being treated to soar. Across the world’s developing countries, the amount of people taking antiretroviral drugs rose by more than a million to more than 4 million people, globally, said a United Nations 2009 progress report on HIV and Aids out yesterday (Wednesday).The vast international effort on AIDS, also ensured that growing numbers of children with Aids, who had largely been left to die also benefited from the life-saving drug therapies. Their number rose to 275,700 in 2008 from 198,000 just a year earlier, the report said.
Sub-Saharan Africa, the worst-hit region in the world, where two-thirds of infections occur, made the most progress. There, the number of mums who were treated to prevent them from infecting their babies with HIV rose by 35 per cent to more than half those in need.

But the G8 has committed itself to universal access to care and treatment, which ranges from drugs to keep people alive to programmes to stop them getting infected. There are still many challenges to be overcome, the UN says."This report shows tremendous progress in the global HIV/Aids response," World Health Organisation (WHO) director Margaret Chan said in the Guardian newspaper. "But we need to do more,” she said. “At least 5 million people living with HIV still do not have access to life-prolonging treatment and care. Governments and international partners must accelerate their efforts to achieve universal access to treatment."The report also had some sobering news. While more than a million people were put on drugs in the past year — drugs they will need for the rest of their lives — 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2007, the latest year there are figures for.“We are walking backward on the treadmill,” Professor Salim Abdool Karim, at the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa told The New York Times. “We’re not going to treat our way out of this problem.”

South Africa, where there are more HIV positive people than anywhere else shows both the progress on treatment and the uncertain prospects for prevention, experts said. In spite of the progress, less than half those there who need the drugs are getting them. The nation is still recovering from setbacks from the years when its president, denied the scientific consensus that HIV causes Aids and that antiretroviral drugs are essential to treat the disease.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children