Director-General of WHO, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Executive Director of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB And Malaria, Guests at Noon Briefing

The leaders of the World Health Organization and UNAIDS launched at today's noon briefing a special initiative aiming to rapidly expand access to HIV treatment in developing countries. The failure to deliver antiretroviral treatment for AIDS to the millions of people who need it is a global health emergency. There are medicines available for a dollar a day or less but these medicines are not getting to the people who need them. Currently, some six million people in developing countries have HIV infections that require antiretroviral treatment, but fewer than 300,000 are being treated. Also it is estimated that only 1 % of people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa have access to antiretroviral treatments.
Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, briefs correspondents today.