Politics worries U.N. AIDS official as much as virus

[rusty charly]

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot, who helped forge a global coalition of Western leaders to increase international response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, will present a lecture tonight at Stanford University.

Global spending on HIV/AIDS has risen from $250 million a decade ago to nearly $10 billion currently. Patients receiving antivirals in low- and moderate-income countries number more than 2 million, up from about 400,000 three years ago.

Yet Piot maintained in an interview, "Treatment is not going to stop this epidemic. In 2005, there were six new infections for every person put into treatment. That is not sustainable. That means we are losing the battle."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/09/BAGT3PNMEM1.DTL&hw=AIDS&sn=001&sc=1000