€5bn drugs plan to treat millions of HIV sufferers

A €5 BILLION campaign to provide three million HIV-infected people in poor countries with the latest drugs available by the end of 2005 was launched yesterday.

The detailed plan focuses on simplifying the delivery of antiretroviral therapy, ensuring a reliable source for the drugs, and creating a system for disseminating the latest information on HIV, the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS announced in Nairobi yesterday, World AIDS Day.

“Preventing and treating AIDS may be the toughest health assignment the world has ever faced, but it is also the most urgent,” Dr Lee Jong-wook, the director-general of WHO, said in the statement. “The lives of millions of people are at stake. This strategy demands massive and unconventional efforts to make sure they stay alive.”