Dear Editor,

The Institute of IrsiCaixa AIDS Research, in collaboration with researchers from the National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Heidelberg (Germany), has come up with a possible AIDS vaccine. The team’s findings are published in the PLoS Biology Journal.

Moreover, more than US$25 million has been invested as a way to give an international response to the AIDS problem in poor countries, according to a study on countries’ needs carried out by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS.

The investment covers the targets for global access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV and AIDS. The United Nations plan certifies that a third of this flow will be invested in missions linked with changing human habits, practices, and social factors that continue to support the epidemic. Moreover, these resources will be aimed at the strengthening of health systems.

The UN says that more than 70 million teenagers will undergo scans for the detection of HIV and AIDS, as well as preventative care treatment and services that aim at preventing maternal-child transmission. Twenty million homosexual men, seven million professional prostitutes and 10 million drug addicts will have the opportunity to benefit from these prevention services against this deadly virus.

There are more than 33 million people worldwide living with the virus. The number of new infections reached 2.7 million and the AIDS-related deaths reached two million. Saharan Africa has 67 per cent of people who live with this disease at a global scale.

Furthermore, according to the World Summit of Ministers of Health, in order to prevent AIDS, human and spiritual values must be respected. Not to mention that human rights and the dignity of the person must be protected.

Among the pioneers of AIDS prevention are Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine Dr Luc Montagnier, Dr Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Dr Harald zur Hausen, the German researcher who determined the human papilloma virus. The cruel scourge of AIDS claims about 5,700 lives in developing countries every year.

Homelessness and AIDS form a devastating combination. In Malawi, one in seven adults is HIV positive and half a million children are homeless. Life expectancy has fallen from 52 to 39 years. The pandemic is considered to be a national disaster, according to Derek von Wissell, director of the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS, one notable fighter against this virus of death. In Mozambique, life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1997 to 31 years, the lowest in the world. Infant mortality has been 108 per thousand. There are 130,000 orphans, which amounts to over 30 per cent of the child population. Between 50 and 60 per cent of malnourished children are affected by AIDS.

Clemente Ferrer

Madrid, Spain

clementeferrer3@gmail.com