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The global economic downturn is having a significant impact on worldwide efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, according to a new report by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition.The update, "Rationing Funds, Risking Lives: World Backtracks on HIV Treatment," provides an on-the-ground assessment of programs in India, Kenya, Latvia, Malawi, Swaziland, and Venezuela. It finds patients are being turned away from treatment, and HIV drug supplies are running low because of government budget cuts and flatlined funding from key donors.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria needs $20 billion over the next three years to help meet health-related UN Millennium Development Goals. But G-8 nations and other donors are warning that raising even $13 billion will be difficult. "If this trend continues, the result will be suffering and death for millions of people around the world currently living with HIV and the millions more who will be newly infected this year and the years to come," says the report.
President Barack Obama is using the economic crisis to justify level funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, rather than providing year-on-year increases as was the case previously, the report alleges. The impact of this already is evident, with new patients being turned away from PEPFAR-funded programs in Africa.
In India, access to HIV drugs is severely restricted due to eligibility criteria for the government's program and high cost in the private sector. In Latvia, the government is imposing limits on the number of patients who can access free HIV treatment.
"For the first time since 2004, some HIV-positive men and women who are in need of life-saving antiretroviral treatment are being turned away because of funding cuts," Peter Mugyenyi, head of Uganda's Joint Clinical Research Center, wrote in a foreword to the report.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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