The world continues to lose an ugly battle to HIV/AIDS
that shows no sign of letting up after 25 million people have died a
quarter-century into the epidemic, the head of the U.N.'s HIV/AIDS joint program
said.
Director of Policy, Evidence and Partnerships
of UNAIDS Dr. Purnima Mane, left, listens while Manager for Epidemic and
Impact Monitoring of UNAIDS Dr. Peter Ghys, right, talks to the media
during a press conference concerning the ' Global Summary of the HIV and
AIDS Epidemic, 2005' organized by the UNAIDS organisation in the Residence
Palace in Brussels, Tuesday May 30, 2006. [AP] |
"I think we will see a further globalization of the epidemic spreading to
every single corner of the planet,"
UNAIDS head Peter Piot told The Associated Press in a telephone interview
from Geneva.
UNAIDS on Tuesday was scheduled to launch a 630-page report that takes stock
of where the world currently stands with nearly 40 million people living with
HIV/AIDS. It documents countries' progress and failures, and projects what must
happen to keep some regions from experiencing disaster. The report was set to be
released a day ahead of a High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, a week prior
to the 25th anniversary of the first documented AIDS cases on June 5, 1981.
"It won't go away one fine day, and then we wake up and say, 'Oh, AIDS is
gone,'" Piot said. "I think we have to start thinking about looking at the next
generations. There's an increasing diversity in how the epidemic looks."
Piot said that there is still time to stop it from worsening, but action is
needed now on a number of fronts.
"Ultimately, it depends on how the leadership reacts, how the international
community will continue to respond and how ready communities are to face the
problem," Piot said. "Intervention is very low ... for many critical populations
in many countries. We need to really intensify the response to AIDS."
Piot said the picture is not hopeless, with examples of progress in nearly
every part of the world. He said Thailand and Uganda were two of the only
previous examples where exploding epidemics were curbed, but a handful of other
countries, including Kenya and Zimbabwe, are also starting to show promise.
Epidemics are diversifying, Piot said, with some driven by unprotected sex,
others by dirty needles and some a combination of the two overlapping each
other. Those trends must be identified and targeted.
Currently, about 1.3 million people in poor countries have access to
antiretroviral treatment, but about 80 percent still are not receiving drugs.
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the epicenter of the
virus, Piot said. The overall percentage of adults infected in some of the
hardest-hit countries continues to climb, with several rates reaching double
digits.
