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"AIDS war may last decades"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(14/08/06)
TORONTO: The war on AIDS may last decades, the head of the agency UNAIDS
warned here, as experts gathered for the biggest-ever conference on a
disease that has claimed 25 million lives in a quarter century.
Peter Piot, UNAIDS' executive director, cautioned that painfully-won gains
to boost funds and provide anti-HIV drugs for poor people should not delude
governments, donors and activists into thinking that the combat was being
won.
“We are entering a new phase in the global response. We have got some
initial successes, or rather results, but we are facing a move from crisis
management to a long-term sustainable response,” Piot said.
He pointed out that antiretroviral drugs only suppressed HIV and did not
eradicate it. This meant that in the absence of a cure, patients have to
take the powerful medications for the rest of their lives.
“One and a half million people are on antiretroviral therapy in the
developing world. And hopefully there will be far more. Twenty, 30 or 40
years from now, we still want them to be alive. Who's going to pay for
that?”
Looking back over efforts to fight AIDS since the fatal disease first
emerged among homosexual men in California in 1981 and became a global
threat, for heterosexuals and gays alike, Piot lamented that many mistakes
had been made.
A decade ago, the first antiretrovirals were introduced in rich countries.
But it took seven years before Big Pharma made these lifesaving molecules
available at an affordable price in poor countries.
From 2003, a surge in funding from the United States and other big donors
provided the cash to launch the big scale-up.
Now that the money spigot is finally opening up and more people are gaining
access to the precious drugs, it is vital for the world not to believe that
AIDS is a settled issue, said Piot. — AFP
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