Jim Clarken: There's no room for complacency in the battle against AIDS
ls wear clothes made out of condoms at an exhibition during the 18th World Aids Conference in Vienna yesterday
DELEGATES arriving at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna this week could be forgiven for not knowing whether to pat themselves on the back or beat themselves around the head.
Those inclined towards self-satisfaction can point to significant victories in the fight against HIV and AIDS: the number of people becoming infected with HIV each year has fallen by 17pc since 2001, the number of infected people receiving treatment has increased tenfold in five years, and the number of deaths has fallen by 10pc.
But the head-beaters also have a strong story to tell. Despite the improvements, more than half of people with HIV and AIDS do not receive the treatment they need to stay alive.
The situation remains particularly bleak in much of sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 60pc of those living with HIV, two-thirds of new infections and almost three-quarters of all AIDS-related deaths. In 2008 two million people died of AIDS and nearly three million were infected with HIV.
This relative lack of progress is particularly disappointing when you realise that 2010 is the year by which world leaders promised those at risk from HIV and AIDS universal access to prevention, treatment and care.
So why has the world failed to live up to the intentions of its leaders in 2001? Inevitably, a large part of the answer is cash. The fact is that donors have not been willing to find the funds necessary to halt the spread of HIV and treat those already infected.
Worryingly, there are signs that rather than stepping up their efforts, donors are seeing the limited successes so far as a reason for complacency.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- responsible for saving almost five million lives -- is running short of money.
In Uganda, cutbacks mean that a wife whose husband is already receiving antiretroviral drugs may not be able to get her own course of medication. If universal access is to be achieved anytime soon then donors must find a minimum of $20bn (€15.5bn)to replenish the Global Fund for the next three years.
And they should go further. Public health services, infrastructure and large numbers of trained health workers are vital to the fight against HIV -- but go beyond the Global Fund's current remit.
HIV does not exist in isolation; it impacts on areas like maternal and child health.
But it would be wrong to pretend that HIV is a problem that can be solved only by the governments of rich countries or by a reorganisation of the way aid money is delivered.
African governments have a critical role to play. They committed to allocating 15pc of their national budgets to health and HIV -- but only a handful of countries, including Malawi and Botswana, meet this target. Some 11 African countries currently spend just $5 (€3.87) per person annually on health.
And now, under pressure from the economic crisis, too many are backtracking on that target. In March, South Africa, Rwanda and Egypt successfully fought for the pledge to be quietly dropped by African Union finance ministers.
This is deeply alarming. Unless governments of both North and South commit additional funds, then universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care will remain an unattainable goal.
Tackling HIV and AIDS will need additional resources. But the battle will be lost if discrimination and prejudice are not dealt with head on as well.
Some governments are jeopardising the fight against HIV by enforcing punitive laws and practices. In Sierra Leone, for example, an offence was introduced into the law in 2007, criminalising people with HIV who put others at risk of infection -- even pregnant women who pass the virus to their unborn babies.
And this is not just an African problem. In 2008, an HIV-positive homeless man in the US state of Texas was sentenced to 35 years in jail for "harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon". His crime? Spitting at a policeman while drunk.
These laws are an attempt at a shortcut to bring HIV under control. But -- as with legislation targeting homosexuals, sex workers, drug users and illegal immigrants -- they make it more difficult for people at risk of HIV to take steps to prevent infection.
These laws also discourage those who fear they might be HIV-positive from being tested and receiving treatment.
The sad reality is that almost a decade after the world's leaders promised to halt the AIDS epidemic, progress is under threat from actions in both rich and poor countries. Delegates arriving in Vienna have no room for complacency.
Jim Clarken is chief executive of Oxfam Ireland and is leading the Oxfam delegation at the Vienna AIDS conference this week.
Irish Independent
