PHA-Exchange> WHO Director-General: Declaration of Global Health Emergency

[Claudio]

> WHO Director-General: Declaration of Global Health Emergency
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>  
>  
> Today, WHO is declaring the failure to deliver AIDS medicines to 
> those who need them a global health emergency. I am making this an-
> nouncement, along with UNAIDS and the Global Fund, in New York, at a 
> press conference and at a roundtable at the UN General Assembly meet-
> ing on HIV/AIDS. 
>  
> We have decided to take this rare measure after evaluating the global 
> situation and finding that only 5% of those in the developing world 
> who require antiretrovirals are getting them. Of 5-6 million people 
> in need, just 300,000 are on ARVs. In sub-Saharan Africa, for exam-
> ple, only 50,000 people, of 4.1 million who require ARVs, actually 
> have access. To address this global health emergency, WHO will take 
> all necessary measures to achieve the "3 by 5" target - putting three 
> million people on antiretrovirals by the end of 2005. 
>  
> In the immediate term, staff across WHO and UNAIDS are working in 
> several areas. These include providing emergency response teams to 
> countries which request them; developing simple treatment guidelines; 
> building a global AIDS Drugs and Diagnostics Facility; developing 
> rapid training for health workers, developing uniform standards and 
> simplified tools to track the progress and impact of ARV treatment 
> programmes; and, assessing the amount of money need to deliver the "3 
> by 5" commitment. 
>  
> To implement the "3 by 5", we can take many lessons learned in other 
> WHO programmes, including TB, polio, our response to SARS and other 
> emergencies. "3 by 5" is an ambitious target, with a long-term goal 
> of universal access to ARVs. We are now working on a detailed "3 by 
> 5" strategy, which will be ready by 1 December 2003, World AIDS Day. 
> I would ask you all to give this important new work your full sup-
> port. 
>  
> Lee Jong-wook
> WHO Director-General