WHO FAILING TO MEET AFRICAN HIV/AIDS TARGETS

East Africa is unlikely to meet its target of treating 300,000 people with HIV/AIDS drugs by December of this year. To date, Uganda is the only country in the region that has obtained its objective of treating half of all HIV-positive people who need the medicines.

The World Health Organisation had set a target of providing AIDS drugs to 3mn people in poor countries by the end of the year. The so called "3by5" goals have only been met by 14 low and middle income countries, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America. India, Nigeria and South Africa, which together account for 41% of the world's unmet HIV treatment cases, failed to sign up to the agreement.

Meanwhile, there appears to have been little progress in resuming US government ARV shipments refused by some pandemic countries including Tanzania. Privately, industry sources are increasingly doubting whether any of the high-profile initiatives are destined to find success in the medium term.