UN bemoans lagging HIV/Aids progress
12/06/2008
UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has criticised what he described as muted progress in the global battle against HIV/Aids.
Speaking at a high-level meeting on the disease in New York, Mr Ki-Moon argued that - despite several promising medical advances and a surge in financial sponsorship - global efforts were still falling short.
"Unless greater and swifter advances are made in reaching those who need essential services, the epidemic's burden on households, communities and societies will continue to mount," he warned.
The secretary general cited a recent report by the World Health Organisation which found that some 2.5 million people became newly-infected with HIV in 2007.
That compares with a mere one million who started receiving lifesaving antiretroviral drugs - many of whom live in the impoverished sub-Saharan region of Africa and were benefiting from the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
Commenting on the worryingly-high global infection rates, UNAids executive director Peter Piot said that a lack of access to proven interventions was to blame. "It's time to act," he asserted.
And adding a further sense of urgency to the crisis, former US president Bill Clinton even suggested that ongoing difficulties in the global economy were impacting on the effectiveness of humanitarian work.
Alluding to the growing cost of fuel, he commented: "This oil price spike has taken away 100 per cent of the value of foreign aid and debt relief to very many countries.
"It has dramatically increased the cost of producing food, and it has increased therefore the number of people who are at risk of these diseases."
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