More access to AIDS drugs is urged

July 18, 2011|Associated Press

ROME - The head of the United Nations AIDS program called yesterday for an increase in access to drugs that help treat or prevent the spread of the disease, saying it is “morally wrong’’ to keep millions of people off lifesaving medication.

Michael Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said the gap in access to HIV treatment should be closed both within and among countries.

Sidibe called for better delivery on the ground, a reduction in the number of years it takes to turn scientific discoveries into actual progress for the poor, and increased cooperation among states, pharmaceutical companies, and international organizations.

“We must use innovation to overcome social division and inequity,’’ he said at the opening of an international AIDS conference in Rome.

In Africa, the hardest hit continent, 6.6 million people are now on AIDS medication, but 9 million people eligible for treatment are on waiting lists, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, many state assistance programs that help people access AIDS medications also have waiting lists.

“Most of those people don’t know what’ll happen to them. Do we tell them that they should die?’’ Sidibe said. “Having 9 million people wait day and night with their families is morally wrong.’’

The conference opened a few days after the announcement of a significant scientific breakthrough in stopping the spread of the virus: Two studies conducted in Africa showed that an antiretroviral drug already known to help prevent the spread of the virus in gay men also works for heterosexual men and women, researchers said.

In both studies, participants were also offered counseling and free condoms, which may help explain the relatively low overall infection rate.