Almost 3 million HIV-Positive people are now receiving anti-retroviral therapy PDF Print E-mail
There has been a 7.5 fold increase in the number of HIV positive people receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) over the past 4 years.

Nearly 3 million people in low and middle-income countries received ART in 2007, according to a report released in June 2008 by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF. Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector (Link to external website).

There has also been significant progress in scaling up access to Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) services, with 33% of pregnant women with HIV accessing PMTCT in 2007 compared to 10% in 2004

We are still far from achieving the goal of universal access to HIV treatment. The report highlights the following barriers to achieving this goal:

  • weak health care systems
  • shortage of human resources
  • lack of sustainable long-term funding
It is important that this progress is sustained, both for new people to access ART, and for those already on ART to continue treatment. "It would be a major disaster and totally irresponsible if the funds dried up and we abandoned those people now dependent on antiretrovirals" says Professor David Ross of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
 
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