Africa: Global AIDS treatment efforts not on track

The World Health Organization released its "3 by 5" progress report on January 26, 2005, at the Davos World Economic Forum congratulating itself on progress made in the drive to fight the HIV pandemic. But only 700,000 or 12% of the nearly six million people in need of antiretroviral treatment in developing countries have access to it today. Looking at these figures Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who provides ARV treatment to more than 25,000 patients in 27 countries, comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Instead of celebrating, WHO, UNAIDS, the Global Fund, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other institutions should be sounding the alarm.