UNAIDS replies

doi:10.1136/bmj.a160

BMJ 2008;336:1206 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.a160

Letters

Writing on the wall for UNAIDS

UNAIDS replies

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

England couldn’t be more wrong that the AIDS epidemicis just another health problem.¹

Over 60 million men, women, and children have become infectedwith HIV since it was first discovered. AIDS has killed 25 millionpeople, and the epidemic continues to outstrip the response.

HIV was and still is an emergency requiring an unprecedentedresponse. AIDS does not fit neatly into a health box but cutsacross sectors such as education, labour, and the legal system.It involves particularly sensitive issues—sex, genderinequality, sex work, homosexuality, drug use, stigma, and discrimination.UNAIDS was created precisely to deal with the multisectoralnature of the epidemic.

Resources for public health are desperately deficient, and thisis no different for HIV. In 2006, $644 billion was estimatedto be available for all public health in low and middle incomecountries, of which a mere 1.4% was spent on HIV.

Funding for HIV . . . [Full text of this article]

Paul De Lay, director

¹ Evidence, Monitoring and Policy Department, UNAIDS, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland

delayp@unaids.org