Andrea Downer, Features Writer

Dr. Pedro Cahn, president of the International AIDS Society, has blamed poverty for hindering HIV initiatives globally. -Photo by Andrea Downer

SYDNEY, Australia:

The world has failed miserably to effectively treat and prevent HIV infections, president of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Dr. Pedro Cahn, told delegates and scientists attending an international conference on HIV and AIDS in Australia yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the official ceremony to mark the opening of the four-day conference, Dr. Cahn, who is co-chair of the society's biennial conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, was very harsh in his criticism of the lack of progress worldwide in making significant strides to halt the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Call for expanded research

"Eleven thousand people contract HIV every day and more than three million people die from AIDS every day. Science has given us the tools to prevent and treat HIV effectively. The fact that we have not yet translated this science into practice is a shameful failure," he stated. "With fewer than one third of people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries having access to life-saving medications, and still fewer with access to proven prevention services such as condoms and sterile syringes, the goal of universal access remains a global priority."

Dr. Cahn said of the approx-imately 39 million people living with HIV worldwide, only about 28 per cent of them are receiving the treatment that they need. According to him, some of the major challenges to progress in the fight against the HIV epidemic are linked to capacity, which includes shortage of health-care workers in some countries and the low salaries that some of those health workers - 20 per cent of whom he said are from developing countries - earn.

However, he named poverty as a key factor which hampers global HIV initiatives.

Echoing a call made in a declaration released by the IAS one week ahead of the conference, Dr. Cahn again underscored the need for expanded research to inform and strengthen the global response to HIV.

The declaration, a global sign-on letter, urges governments and donors to allocate 10 per cent of all resources dedicated to HIV funding for research.

Executive director of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, who also spoke at the press conference, disclosed that the challenges of sustainable financing and strategies to address the health workforce crisis have to be overcome if the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is to be translated from mere hope to reality.

According to Dr. Kazatchkine, it is projected that US$18 billion will be needed to fight the epidemic. However, the amount required in 2010, would be between US$20 billion-US$22 billion.

"Only about half of the global funding that we need to fight HIV/AIDS is now available. We currently have between US$9 billion-US$9.5 billion," he disclosed.

Circumcision an option

Experts are calling for more funding for research and new findings which suggest male circumcision can significantly reduce infection. Delegates will be shown evidence from trials in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa that circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection in heterosexual men by about 60 per cent.

The trials confirmed previous studies which have reported circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection.

Approximately 5,000 scientists, HIV clinicians and community leaders from 133 countries are in Sydney attending the conference to review important advances in HIV research.

A Jamaican paediatrician based at Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, Dr. Tracey Evans-Gilbert, will be conducting a poster exhibition on Wednesday, the final day of the conference. Her abstract, which gives the results of a study on monitoring treatment adherence in a group of HIV-positive Jamaican children, was one of just under 1,000 accepted for presentation at the conference.

This year, the IAS received more than 3,000 abstracts from around the world.

andrea.downer@gleanerjm.com