Pubdate: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2008 The Age Company Ltd Contact: http://www.theage.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5 Author: Lawrence Altman, Mexico City Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) COMBINED MOVES URGED TO COMBAT AIDS EPIDEMIC WHILE the world awaits findings from new AIDS prevention trials, millions of people are becoming infected because governments are overlooking studies showing that behaviour modification works, AIDS experts have warned. Measures cited by the experts included promoting safer sex through delayed intercourse and the use of condoms, decreasing drug abuse, providing access to needle exchange programs and promoting male circumcision. But none of these alone offers a simple solution to preventing infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the experts have said at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. The experts said characteristics of the global epidemic varied greatly among and within countries, most of which are not focusing prevention resources where their epidemics are concentrated. Combining these measures and delivering them on a wider scale were crucial to reversing the global HIV epidemic, they said. Health workers have had initial successes in providing antiretroviral drugs to treat an estimated 3 million people worldwide. But tens of millions more people need the drugs, and still millions more are now becoming infected. The world cannot treat its way out of the AIDS epidemic, many experts have long said, and a scientific debate exists over the extent to which antiretroviral therapy can reduce transmission of the virus. A pressing need exists to combine HIV prevention and treatment efforts, experts said on Tuesday. Researchers in each field "need to get married today", said Dr Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina. "We need to be one community." A 50-member panel known as the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, released a report saying that prevention efforts must address perception problems. One is misplaced pessimism about the effectiveness of HIV prevention strategies. A second is confusing the difficulty in changing human behaviour with an inability to do so. A third is a misconception that because it is inherently difficult to measure prevention success, those efforts have no impact, the report said. Leading African figures led by former Botswanan president Festus Mogae have launched an initiative to lobby African governments to do more. Gathering former heads of state, top experts on AIDS and gender health as well as Ethiopian super-model Liya Kebede, the "Champions for an HIV-free Generation" are pledging to nail HIV prevention to the political mast. "Thanks to the unprecedented effort of the global community, millions are now receiving life-saving AIDS treatment," Mr Mogae said at the conference. "But for every two people we treat in Africa this year, five more are infected. We urgently need innovation and invigoration of HIV prevention in Africa." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake