Three years ago, fewer than 300,000 people in the developing world were receiving the antiretroviral drugs that help treat the virus. Last year, 2.2 million people in developing countries received the drugs, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"However, for every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing the numbers game," Fauci told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

In many parts of the developing world where the HIV/AIDS epidemic is growing exponentially, effective prevention strategies — such as condom distribution, needle exchanges and basic education about the disease — reach less than 15 percent of the population.

"The proven prevention modalities are not accessible to any substantial proportion of the people who need them," said Fauci, one of the keynote speakers at the Fourth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Sydney, Australia, which ran through July 25.

"Although we are making major improvements in the access to drugs, prevention must be addressed in a forceful way," he added.

According to recent World Health Organization statistics, only 28 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS patients are currently receiving anti-retroviral drugs.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 28, 2007
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