WolfLair Pediatric AIDS

The most dramatic increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people receiving AIDS treatment grew thirteenfold to 1.3 million at the end of 2006, compared with only 100,000 in 2003.

Last year alone, more than 700,000 people from countries outside the industrialized world were introduced to AIDS drugs. The U.N. agency said that 28 percent of the estimated 7 million people in nonindustrialized nations who need the medications are now getting them.

"Yes, 28 percent of those in need is not satisfactory," Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of HIV/AIDS programs for the WHO, said during a telephone press conference from London. "On the other hand, it’s a remarkable success when you think that three years ago treatment access was so limited."

In Latin American and Caribbean nations, the U.N. agency estimates that 355,000 patients, or 72 percent of those who need AIDS drugs to survive, are now getting them — the highest treatment rates outside the industrialized world.

De Cock warned that the progress being made in treatment of AIDS is not sustainable without progress in prevention, where the news is not encouraging. "For every patient gaining access to therapy, there are six new infections,” he warned. Last year, an estimated 4.2 million persons were infected with HIV.

He said efforts to treat pregnant women and newborns with short courses of AIDS drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV have been "woefully inadequate," with only 10 percent of women in need of the treatment receiving it.

"This is very sobering in that pediatric HIV disease is on the brink of elimination in the industrialized world," De Cock said.

Access to the medications still varies within underdeveloped countries, even in regions where the percentage of those covered has become significant. For example, in Kenya, AIDS drug coverage had reached 44 percent of estimated need by the end of 2006, while in Mozambique the percentage was 14 percent. In Botswana, more than 95 percent of those needing drugs were getting them; in Zimbabwe, the coverage was 15 percent.

But overall, the growth in AIDS drug coverage for sub-Saharan Africa — epicenter of the global AIDS pandemic — has soared to 28 percent in 2006, compared with only 2 percent three years earlier.

Michel Sidibe, director of country and regional support at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, said vastly more financial resources will be needed if there is any hope of making antiviral drugs universally available by 2010. The leading industrialized nations set a goal of "working toward" universal access by 2010 at the G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005.

The financial muscle required to expand AIDS treatment has been driven largely through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and PEPFAR, the Bush administration’s $15 billion overseas AIDS relief program, which also focuses on 15 hard-hit countries and contributes to the Global Fund.

According to Sidibe, spending on global AIDS programs would have to increase to at least $20 billion from $8 billion today to fulfill that G-8 goal. Nevertheless, he said he was "very encouraged" by the U.N. report. "We are seeing the Global Fund and PEPFAR investments already making some difference," he said.

E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

The most dramatic increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people receiving AIDS treatment grew thirteenfold to 1.3 million at the end of 2006, compared with only 100,000 in 2003.

Last year alone, more than 700,000 people from countries outside the industrialized world were introduced to AIDS drugs. The U.N. agency said that 28 percent of the estimated 7 million people in nonindustrialized nations who need the medications are now getting them.

"Yes, 28 percent of those in need is not satisfactory," Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of HIV/AIDS programs for the WHO, said during a telephone press conference from London. "On the other hand, it’s a remarkable success when you think that three years ago treatment access was so limited."

In Latin American and Caribbean nations, the U.N. agency estimates that 355,000 patients, or 72 percent of those who need AIDS drugs to survive, are now getting them — the highest treatment rates outside the industrialized world.

De Cock warned that the progress being made in treatment of AIDS is not sustainable without progress in prevention, where the news is not encouraging. "For every patient gaining access to therapy, there are six new infections,” he warned. Last year, an estimated 4.2 million persons were infected with HIV.

He said efforts to treat pregnant women and newborns with short courses of AIDS drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV have been "woefully inadequate," with only 10 percent of women in need of the treatment receiving it.

"This is very sobering in that pediatric HIV disease is on the brink of elimination in the industrialized world," De Cock said.

Access to the medications still varies within underdeveloped countries, even in regions where the percentage of those covered has become significant. For example, in Kenya, AIDS drug coverage had reached 44 percent of estimated need by the end of 2006, while in Mozambique the percentage was 14 percent. In Botswana, more than 95 percent of those needing drugs were getting them; in Zimbabwe, the coverage was 15 percent.

But overall, the growth in AIDS drug coverage for sub-Saharan Africa — epicenter of the global AIDS pandemic — has soared to 28 percent in 2006, compared with only 2 percent three years earlier.

Michel Sidibe, director of country and regional support at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, said vastly more financial resources will be needed if there is any hope of making antiviral drugs universally available by 2010. The leading industrialized nations set a goal of "working toward" universal access by 2010 at the G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005.

The financial muscle required to expand AIDS treatment has been driven largely through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and PEPFAR, the Bush administration’s $15 billion overseas AIDS relief program, which also focuses on 15 hard-hit countries and contributes to the Global Fund.

According to Sidibe, spending on global AIDS programs would have to increase to at least $20 billion from $8 billion today to fulfill that G-8 goal. Nevertheless, he said he was "very encouraged" by the U.N. report. "We are seeing the Global Fund and PEPFAR investments already making some difference," he said.

E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle