Ten times more people in Africa are getting life-saving HIV drugs than did three years ago, but most still get no treatment and the pandemic is spreading, the World Health Organization said today.
More than a million people in sub-Saharan Africa now receive drugs that help many with the virus live normal lives, but globally only 24 percent of those who should be taking the drugs get them, the report said.
The findings suggest that a push has worked, at least partly, to get lifesaving drugs to the people who need them, WHO HIV/AIDS Director Dr Kevin De Cock told the 16th International AIDS Conference.
"WHO estimated there were 1.65 million people on antiretroviral therapy in low and middle income settings, including over 1 million in Africa," Dr De Cock told a news conference.
The AIDS virus infects nearly 39 million people globally, and has killed 25 million people since it was identified 25 years ago. Virtually all - 95 per cent - of people infected with the virus live in the developing world.
There is no vaccine. At the end of 2003, 100,000 people in Africa were being treated - about 3 per cent to 4 per cent of those who needed the drugs to stay alive, De Cock said.
WHO, the United States, Medecins Sans Frontieres, former US president Bill Clinton's foundation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and others have worked to drive down the costs of the drugs, provide generic versions for poor countries and get the drugs distributed.