AIDS medication coverage increases 10-fold in five years

About four million people are currently receiving AIDS medications worldwide, but five million others remain in need, according to an annual progress report published by the UN.

The findings indicate that worldwide funding for AIDS was nearly $9 billion last year. AIDS programs received about 23 cents for every dollar spent on public health.

In spite of these figures, the global cost for treatment of the disease is likely to increase. UN officials said that a possible update of WHO HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines may contain recommendations for initiation of therapy at an earlier point, which could double the number of people requiring medication. Also, the cost of treatment programs will continue to increase, particularly when drug resistance develops and more expensive drugs are needed.

The findings in the UN report are based on incomplete data and modeling. There are 192 member countries in the UN, 158 of which provided government-approved data. Most of these data have not yet been independently verified. However, in spite of this, UN officials said the preliminary results represent a dramatic improvement in AIDS drug coverage and are therefore cause for hope.

The most substantial increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly three million people are currently being treated. Health officials estimate that about 44% of people with HIV in the region are currently taking AIDS medications. By comparison, in 2003 CDC estimated that AIDS drug coverage in the United States was about 71%.

Other results demonstrated that, worldwide, the number of children receiving ART increased from 198,000 to 275,700 from 2007 to 2008.

AIDS experts from around the globe commented on the UN findings. Some said that with the number of people with HIV being treated reaching record levels, it may be time to focus efforts on such areas prevention, stigma reduction and male circumcision.

The report was published jointly by WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS.