AIDS Treatment News logo      

December 4, 2009

Two standards of care for HIV: Why are Africans being short-changed?

"The impact of the XIIIth International Conference on AIDS in Durban, South Africa, in 2000 was much more than scientific. It also highlighted the non-acceptability of continuing to deny access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs to HIV-infected people in developing countries. This was in spite of efforts by then President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to undermine the conference through his ridiculous and irresponsible insinuations that HIV might not be the cause of AIDS. Since 2000, it is estimated that the numbers of people in Africa receiving antiretroviral therapy has increased to approximately four million from about 7000 at the time of the Durban Conference. However, the fact is that almost all HIV-infected persons in developing country settings are today receiving therapies that are considered to be sub-standard by Western criteria."

Read more in Retrovirology, December 1, 2009.

0 comments: