WHO: More people treated as HIV drug prices drop

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Lower prices for HIV drugs have significantly improved access to treatment for people in poor countries, but figures are still far off target for the United Nations' long-term goal of universal coverage by 2010, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. By the end of 2006 some 2 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving the anti-retroviral drugs that help treat the HIV infection, according to WHO's annual progress report. This represents an increase of 54 percent on the 1.3 million people treated the year before, meaning about 28 percent of those in need now receive the drugs.