UK gives £3 million to WHO’s ‘3 by 5’ treatment goal

The United Kingdom has announced that it is giving £3 million ($5 million) towards the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) “3 by 5” initiative to treat 3 million people in developing countries by the end of 2005.

The British announcement was made in March by Gareth Thomas, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for International Development (DFID). He commented: “We have no time to waste in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which is why we are supporting the 3 by 5 initiative. Teachers in dozens of poor countries are dying of HIV/AIDS faster than they can be trained so if we cannot tackle the scourge of HIV/AIDS we cannot lift people out of poverty.”

The money will help to pay for additional staff, most of whom will work overseas with national Ministries of Health and training health service staff to provide antiretroviral therapy to people living with HIV/AIDS. DFID said the UK’s bilateral expenditure on HIV/AIDS programmes has risen from £38 million in 1997/8 to £270 million in 2002/3.

Dr Paulo Teixeira resigned in March as director of the WHO’s HIV department citing health and personal reasons. He has been replaced Dr Jim Yong Kim, formerly adviser to the WHO’s director-general. Before Dr Teixera became director of the WHO HIV department, he ran the National AIDS Programme in Brazil and earned acclaim and awards for defending the free and universal distribution of antiretrovirals. He will continue to work with the 3 by 5 initiative, advising on the emergency deployment of staff and continuing to focus on work in developing countries.

Dr Kim is an infectious disease physician-anthropologist, an expert on treating poor people in several countries, who is currently on leave from his position as associate professor of medicine and medical anthropolgy at Harvard Medical School.