In partnership with The Global Health Group, UCSF and sponsored by Gilead Sciences
In the year 2000, almost no one in the developing world was receiving antiretroviral therapy. Today, roughly 5 million people are on therapy and their lives are being extended by decades. The drugs to achieve this result have improved enormously; down to one pill a day at a cost of about $200 per year in the developing world. Programmes to deliver these drugs have expanded hugely, financed mainly by PEPFAR and the Global Fund.
However, the challenges ahead are huge. Many more people need to be on therapy and this figure will continue to rise, with the number of new infections each year many more than those being placed on therapy each year. Prevention programmes have not seriously attenuated the continued force of the pandemic.
Key Points
- How can the tremendous success in gaining access to life saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for over five million people in developing countries be maintained and expanded?
- How can more international and – especially – domestic resources be mobilised?
- What are the best ways to secure better value for money by improving the efficiency and quality of services, for the people who most need them?
