Goal for HIV treatment still possible, WHO says

BANGKOK, Thailand — The World Health Organization asserted here on Saturday that its goal of delivering antiretroviral therapy to 3 million people infected with HIV in poor countries by the end of 2005 could still be met despite obstacles that had severely limited the number now under treatment.

The program, known as 3 by 5, has been a subject of debate since the agency's director general, Dr. Lee Jong Wook, announced it last fall.

In its first progress report, issued a day before the 15th International AIDS Conference here today, the WHO estimated that 440,000 people were being treated. That is about twice as many as in 2002, said Dr. Jim Kim, director of the agency's AIDS program. But the agency's goal had been to treat 60,000 more people by now.

Lee said that the U.N. agency could not let it fail because "the collective response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the benchmark by which our generation will be judged."

Critics have said the effort was too ambitious, that affected countries did not have enough workers to deliver the drugs and that the agency did not have enough money.

At a news conference here on Saturday, agency officials were not specific about the effort that the agency, which is based in Geneva, is conducting with government and private groups.

The agency published the estimated number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment by country for 49 countries. The total was 327,000. The agency did not provide the list of countries with the remaining 113,000 people being treated.

So far, 12 countries have established official treatment goals that meet the 3 by 5 objective of providing treatment for 50 percent of those in need.

Only Botswana, Indonesia and Uganda have published such plans. Botswana is treating 18,000 people, with a goal of 30,000; Indonesia is treating 1,500, with a goal of 3,500; and Uganda is treating 20,000, with a goal of 55,000, said Melanie Zipperer, an agency spokeswoman. -->

The agency said progress has been slowed by the time it takes to develop clear, standard and simplified technical guidelines and training materials and by the time needed to develop standards and processes to certify workers.

Dr. Peter Piot, the director of the U.N. AIDS program, a partner in the 3 by 5 effort, said, "We have to be frank and admit that we have a long way to go."