G8 breaks its AIDS commitments
G8 at risk of defaulting on access to antiretroviral therapy for all AIDS patients
The G8 risks failing to meet its commitments to provide access to antiretroviral therapy to all AIDS patients, according to a draft published in the Financial Times.
According to a statement on June 1, the Group of the Most Developed Industrial States (G8) meeting in Heiligendamm, a Baltic resort in northeastern Germany, must pledge to help "in the coming years nearly five million people" by providing them with "vital" antiretroviral drugs ".
That goal is lower than the one set at the G8 summit in Glenigles, Scotland, in July 2005, to help 10 million people living with the deadly HIV virus by 2010. However, the plan calls for program "Towards a global access" to the prescribed medication.
A government official quoted by the paper described the review of the targets as "a huge setback to the promises made to Glennigs". The G8 countries - Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Canada, the United States and Japan - continue work until Friday, with priority issues such as climate, aid to Africa, Kosovo independence, trade and more.
