|TOP|UK agency Christian Aid, the official ecumenical relief organisation of a range of Protestant and Anglican churches in Britain, is urging all donors to fund the fight against HIV in full, Ekklesia reports.

According to the agency, HIV targets are under scrutiny from health action groups and faith organisations, as the UN meets to mark the fifth anniversary of a global HIV agreement

World leaders will gather on 31 May 2006 in New York on the anniversary of UNGASS (the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS) – the world’s first global treaty dedicated to fighting HIV.

But according to Christian Aid, the news is not good. The world’s richest countries are far from reaching the targets set for HIV prevention, care and treatment.

|AD|Despite many political promises, the agency says, overall funding for HIV has still only reached a little over half of what is needed, while the rate at which these funds increase is now slowing.

Likewise, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has received little more than half the level of funding it requested – which itself is much less than the 7-10 billion US dollars a year that it was originally intended to have.

Christian Aid points out that the UK government is contributing its fair share of funding for HIV – but says it now needs to persuade other donors to do the same. Japan, Italy, Germany and France are the worst offenders among G7 donors.

Although the UNGASS target was 90 per cent by 2006, worldwide, only 20 per cent of young women and 33 per cent of young men can correctly identify ways pf preventing HIV transmission.

In addition, only nine per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women receive antiretroviral treatment; the UNGASS target was 80 per cent. Some 20 per cent of people who need treatment have access to it.










[Source: Ekklesia]