Delivering the 2010 target : financing universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment

The commitment to achieve universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment is destined to fail unless the donors bridge the funding gulf that currently exists between what is needed and what is actually spent on treating HIV and AIDS.

In 2005, the UK and other G8 leaders gave hope to millions of people for whom AIDS is still a potential death sentence. The G8 Finance Ministers’ meeting in June that year, and then the Gleneagles Communiqué in July, built upon earlier efforts to expand HIV treatment. A commitment was made to « develop and implement a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010 ».

This commitment has since gained broader political support. For example, world leaders reiterated the commitment at the World Summit in September 2005 and at the UN high level meeting on AIDS in 2006, where they pledged « universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010 ». The commitment has also been the catalyst for national and global action. The UNAIDS and DFID-led Global Steering Committee on universal access has coordinated efforts by UN agencies to help countries develop strategies to move towards universal access.

However, despite this growing momentum to comprehensively scale up the global response to HIV and AIDS, a number of barriers to universal access to treatment exist - including inadequate health systems, the high price of drugs and inadequate funding. A huge funding gap exists between what is currently available and what is needed for a comprehensive response to AIDS. The commitment made by the UK and others is at risk of failing for lack of sufficient funding. As a result, millions of people are still not receiving the information, services or treatment they need to curb the impact of HIV and AIDS.

• Read the report of Actionaid