E-drug: WHO Declaration of Global Health Emergency
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Today, WHO is declaring the failure to deliver AIDS medicines to
those who need them a global health emergency. I am making this
announcement, along with UNAIDS and the Global Fund, in New
York, at a press conference and at a roundtable at the UN General
Assembly meeting 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 example,
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 support.
Lee Jong-wook
WHO Director-General
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