By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
HIV infection is on the rise but there is potential to control the upsurge of infections with effective measures only if there are adequate funds. According to UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe the world has become numb to the fact that 7,400 people are being infected with AIDS every day and funds to combat it are not pouring in as they should. Since 2001, the number of newly infected people has fallen by 17 per cent a year - but there are still 2.7 million new cases each year.
Sydney, Australia could become a role model for the world in controlling the new infections provided there are enough funds say experts. Mr Sidibe said that in Sydney new infection rates had dropped to about one person per day – something that other countries can learn from. While speaking at Melbourne at the Advance Global Health conference he said, “We have been able to break the conspiracy of silence about AIDS… We're not translating that into political choices, in budgets and in reforms…I am scared. I was woken today by a call from Mozambique that stocks of retroviral drugs are running out. And for the first time, we're seeing a reduction of financial support - $US623 million ($701m) less from the European Union this year.” He met leaders of the Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS, including vice-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, and visited professor Sharon Lewin at Burnet Institute, a leader of the global search for a cure for AIDS. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the Melbourne conference and said that more needed to be done to save the lives of women and children.
The executive director of UNAIDS also said that the medically supervised injection facility operating in Kings Cross was impressive. He said that this idea was both a “pragmatic” and “cost effective” approach to preventing HIV. He however avoided any link with the project and up coming elections.