access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care

In January, the rock star Bono announced the creation of a new commercial brand designed to help raise money to fight AIDS in Africa. “Product RED” originally involved four large companies (Armani, Gap, American Express and Converse), each of which would sell special red products and donate a portion of the profits to the Global Fund. The first merchandise would become available in the UK in March.⁹⁷

The final results of the 3 by 5 initiative were revealed in March. By the end of 2005, only around 1.3 million people in low- and middle-income countries had been receiving antiretroviral treatment – less than half of the 3 million target. Though this result was highly disappointing, the WHO stressed that it still represented a more than three-fold increase within two years. Of the 152 countries involved in the initiative, only 18 met the target of 50% treatment coverage. Among the worst performers were Russia and India, and among the best was Botswana, where coverage had reached around 85%.

"Two years ago, political support and resources for the rapid scale-up of HIV treatment were very limited. Today ‘3 by 5’ has helped to mobilize political and financial commitment to achieving much broader access to treatment. This fundamental change in expectations is transforming our hopes of tackling not just HIV/AIDS, but other diseases as well."WHO Director-General, Dr Lee Jong-wook⁹⁸

PEPFAR announced that it was helping to provide treatment to 401,000 people in its fifteen focus countries,⁹⁹ but this news was soon overshadowed by yet more criticism of the plan’s HIV prevention policies. A report by the Government Accountability Office revealed that, by allocating one third of its prevention budget to programmes promoting abstinence and fidelity, PEPFAR was forcing countries to cut funding for efforts to help high-risk groups and to prevent mother-to-child transmission.¹⁰⁰

A new study suggested that the rate of new HIV infections in Southern India might have declined between 2000 and 2004, perhaps because of changes in sexual behaviour. One of the authors, Professor Prabhat Jha, said their results contradicted previous assumptions:

“There have been many predictions, mostly based on guesswork, that India's AIDS problem will explode – as it did in southern Africa – but we now have direct evidence of something positive.”¹⁰¹

Reports that an HIV-positive orphan, Isaiah Gakuyo, had been violently murdered by his uncle sparked protest marches in Kenya. Before his death, the teenager had been mistreated and isolated by his relatives because of his infection.

“The boy was facing violence on a daily basis. We don't want this to happen again.”March organiser, Inviolata Mwali M'Mbwari -¹⁰²

Dr Lee Jong-wook, Director General of the WHO, died after undergoing emergency surgery in May. Dr Lee had led the 3 by 5 initiative, and was especially passionate about achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care.¹⁰³

At the end of May, twenty-five years after doctors first became aware of AIDS, UNAIDS published an especially comprehensive report on the global epidemic. Although the number of people living with HIV was still rising, there was new evidence of HIV prevalence declines in Kenya, as well as urban areas of Burkina Faso and Haiti.¹⁰⁴