Message from Bangkok:
More Money, Research Needed in Fight Against AIDS

A clear message emerged from the hundreds of speeches and sessions that took place at the July 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok: the pandemic is spreading faster than our collective efforts to contain it, requiring rich nations to do even more to expand HIV prevention and care services worldwide.

Despite several bold, new initiatives—including the five-year, $15 billion U.S. plan—the funding gap is large and growing. United Nations officials estimate that $12 billion will be needed next year alone to adequately combat HIV/AIDS in the developing world; nations and private donors have committed only about half that amount. By 2007, the annual need will rise to $20 billion.

The needs of women and girls—now half of all HIV/AIDS cases worldwide and 60% of those in southern Africa—require acute attention. Factors fueling the pandemic include the use of rape as a tool of war, economic dependence on men, and social norms that make it nearly impossible for women and girls to control men’s condom use. The result is a severe epidemic among mothers, caregivers, and workers, and an escalating orphan crisis. These grave statistics and other scientific sessions underscored the need to expand research on microbicides.

Conference sessions also highlighted the need to step up research efforts toward the development of an effective HIV vaccine. Advocates reported that more than 30 vaccines are in clinical trials in 19 countries, yet only one has reached the final testing phase. Some $650 million is spent on HIV vaccine research annually, less than 1% of total HIV/AIDS product development spending.

Read more about the conference at www.kaisernetwork.org.

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