By Eleanor Robb
UNITED NATIONS: 4 December, 2006 (MEDIAGLOBAL): Just prior to World AIDS day, which was recognized across the globe on Friday, Dec 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS released a report revealing that the global AIDS epidemic is expanding.
Despite this disheartening news, reports from the least developed countries tell of increasing access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, especially amongst children. This indicates hope for the future reduction of the current global AIDS epidemic and indicates a brighter future for the millions currently suffering from AIDS and HIV.
The annual AIDS report, according to UNAIDS, “reports on the latest developments in the global AIDS epidemic. With maps and regional summaries, the 2006 edition provides the most recent estimates of the epidemic’s scope and human toll and explores new trends in the epidemic’s evolution.”
The 2006 report identified a number of trends including an increase in those living with AIDS, an increase in the number of new infections and an increase in the number of deaths related to AIDS. The report also identified that the least developed countries, many of which are in Africa, are some of the worst affected by the epidemic.
According to the report an estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, compared with 38.6 million at the end of 2005. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006, compared to 4.1 million in 2005. During 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses, compared with 2.8 million deaths in 2005. The report also stated that 65 percent of new infections in 2006 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Craig McClure, head of the International AIDS Society commented in an interview with MediaGlobal, “This data clearly illustrates that the burden of this epidemic has worsened over the past year.”
Pamela Barnes, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation, stated that these figures told a ‘grim tale’.
As grim as this tale may be, hopes of a brighter future are encouraged by recent reports from some of the least developed countries of increasing access to ARV treatment for AIDS sufferers.
According to McClure, “We have seen important progress in efforts to provide access to antiretroviral treatment, particularly in resource-poor countries.”
Children in least developed countries, who have often been neglected in terms of ARV treatment, are beginning to be gain greater access to this medication.
In the past, children in least developed countries have often been denied access to ARV treatment because child-friendly medicines were costly and due to the difficulty of adjusting the adult dosage down in order to suit a child.
As Patricia Duquette, director of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, pointed out at a recent UN panel discussion on pediatric AIDS, health professionals in least developed countries have often had to choose between treating one child or four adults.
Research shows that 13 percent of all AIDS cases are children, and 2.8 million children die from AIDS every year, which represents around 15 percent of all deaths from AIDS. Currently only 6 percent of children receive treatment.
However more and more children in least developed countries are receiving ARV treatment. The Clinton Foundation recently negotiated a 50 percent reduction in the cost of pediatric ARV medicines. In addition, a number of non governmental organizations sent doctors to the world’s poorest countries, and the AIDS 2006 conference strongly advocated for the scaling up of ARV treatment programs.
However the newest AIDS report demonstrated that much more needs to be done. As Craig McClure stated, “We have seen important progress in efforts to provide access to antiretroviral treatment, particularly in resource-poor countries. However there is a need for more aggressive scale up of both prevention and treatment programs worldwide.”