Britain will put AIDS at the centre of of its presidency of the G8 group of rich nations and the European Union in 2005, said Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development, with a call for action due to be launched on December 1st that will urge more political commitment, more investment in prevention and treatment, better coordination of donors and better delivery of services on the ground.
Speaking at a London press conference to launch the UNAIDS 2003 AIDS Epidemic Update, he also indicated that previous reluctance on the part of the British government to support HIV treatment was receding, a move welcomed by Derek Bodell, Chief Executive of the UK’s National AIDS Trust, who said: “I am glad that we will now be able to look people with HIV in the developing world in the eye and say `Britain is doing something about treatment`.
However, the Secretary of State admitted that all governments should have done more sooner to fight AIDS. Peter Piot of UNAIDS remarked that whilst HIV and AIDS is now on the political agenda whenever world leaders meet, it was disappointing to see the lack of interest shown by Asian leaders in the UN Special Session on HIV that took place in September this year.
Treatment now the most important response to the crisis, say WHO and UNAIDS
All speakers at the press conference stressed the importance of antiretroviral treatment in containing the impact of the epidemic.
Jack Chow, Assistant Director-General at WHO responsible for HIV/AIDS said: “Many developing countries are now becoming AIDS-imploding countries. There is no more important public health mission than 3 x 5.”
The World Health Organisation's `3 x 5` initiative, which aims to treat 3 million with antiretrovirals by the end of 2005, will be launched in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 1st.
In a lecture to the World Bank last week, Peter Piot also highlighted the desperate nature of the crisis facing many nations, especially those in southern Africa, that are losing the ability to maintain existing services and their social fabric as increasin numbers succumb to AIDS. He said that restoring the capacity of the worst-hit societies was the only way of preventing social collapse and further devastation by HIV.
“We can begin by preserving existing capacity”, he said. “In other words, keep people alive. This is why providing HIV treatment is so critical. In the hard-hit countries, nothing else – nothing - will so directly or quickly arrest the plunge in public capacity as this single measure. Antiretroviral therapy has reduced mortality by 80% in Brazil - what other capacity-building measure can show such a return?”.