HUGO SWIRE, the MP for East Devon, did well to initiate a recent Westminster Hall debate on anti-retroviral drugs. Figures provided in a 2004 UNAIDS report expose the crisis: for Africa, AIDS is now the number one overall cause of death. Rates of HIV infection continue to rise in sub-Saharan Africa, where in 2003 alone, an estimated 3 million people became newly infected, he said. Many MPs consider this an underestimate.
Even after a decade of international effort to stem the worldwide AIDS epidemic there is no known cure. However, treatment with anti-retrovirals has reduced rates of mortality, revitalised communities…
