AIDS response gains momentum

He said the development of effective partnerships for action at global, national and local levels is another factor responsible for the increased momentum. Stirling said the 2007 Universal Access Report highlighted the rapid scale up of ART programmes, reaching over three million globally and about 2.2 million in Africa.

He said in Eastern and Southern Africa, progress has been varied with some countries moving rapidly towards the goal of ensuring Universal Access to treatment (Botswana, Rwanda and Namibia) while others have failed to deliver on their commitments.  He said that overall, roughly one-third of those in need of treatment (about 1.9 million) by end 2007 were covered. This left a treatment gap of about 3.8 million people.