The UNAIDS report also revealed that funding for the response to AIDS in low- and middle-income countries had risen from $300 million in 1996 to $8.3 billion in 2005, yet was still a long way short of what was required for meaningful action. Of the $18.1 billion that would be needed in 2007, only $10 billion was likely to be available.105
June also contained the fifth anniversary of the UNGASS declaration, in which UN member states had set ambitious targets for combating HIV and AIDS worldwide. Another High-level Meeting was therefore convened to agree a new “Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS”, which would guide the global response over coming years. The final document was criticised by some campaigners for being vaguely worded, and for omitting any definite spending commitments.
“I wish we could have been a bit more frank in our declaration about telling the truth that some groups – like sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men – are more at risk… This is not a time for embarrassment, this is about telling it straight because it is about saving people's lives. Openness, honesty, frankness, giving people enough information, not being squeamish and telling the truth is really, really, important.”Hilary Benn, UK International Development Secretary106
The Vatican sparked excitement among AIDS campaigners when it suggested it was planning a review of its stance on condom use as a method of HIV prevention. However, it soon became clear that a major change in policy was unlikely, and that the Catholic Church would probably continue to oppose condom use in all circumstances.107
The Gates Foundation – the world’s largest private source of funding for HIV and AIDS – received a substantial boost to its finances in June, when the billionaire Warren Buffet promised to donate $31 billion over ten years. Bill Gates announced that he would step down as head of Microsoft to concentrate on the work of the Foundation.108
The first one-a-day pill for effectively treating HIV infection was approved for sale in the USA. A result of unprecedented cooperation between two major pharmaceutical companies, the pill, called Atripla, combined three types of drug widely used in first-line treatment. The advent of once-daily treatment represented great progress since the mid-1990s, when people with HIV usually had to take several pills every few hours.109
In August, attention turned to the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. One major talking point was how to accelerate the expansion of antiretroviral therapy worldwide, and in particular how to alleviate dire shortages of healthcare workers in the most needy countries. Delegates also discussed the pros and cons of routine HIV testing, whereby everyone attending medical settings is offered an HIV test, regardless of symptoms. The WHOand others suggested that wider use of this approach would increase take-up of treatment and help to counter stigma.
The conference provided a platform for critics of the South African government’s response to AIDS. Activists protested at the country’s exhibition stand, which was dominated by unproven nutritional remedies, with almost no reference to effective medication. Conference co-chair Mark Wainberg said it was “unconscionable” that South Africa’s leaders would not talk openly about AIDS.110 Stephen Lewis (UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa) went further in his closing speech:
“South Africa is the unkindest cut of all. It is the only country in Africa … whose government is still obtuse, dilatory and negligent about rolling out treatment. It is the only country in Africa whose government continues to propound theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe than of a concerned and compassionate state... The government has a lot to atone for. I'm of the opinion that they can never achieve redemption.”111
Shortly after the conference, more than 80 prominent international scientists wrote an open letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki calling on him to sack health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, whom they blamed for “disastrous, pseudo-scientific policies” on HIV/AIDS.112 Instead, the South African government set up a new inter-ministerial committee to take charge of the national AIDS response, to be headed by the deputy president, thus seeming to sideline the controversial health minister.113
To coincide with the Toronto conference, medical journal The Lancet produced a special issue with a red cover to help promote the Product RED brand. The 130-page journal was entirely devoted to AIDS-related articles, and included prominent adverts for Product RED merchandise.114 The Independent, a British newspaper, had been the first publication to produce a RED edition in May; it would repeat the stunt in September and December.1
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