"The most dramatic increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people receiving AIDS treatment grew thirteenfold to 1.3 million at the end of 2006, compared with only 100,000 in 2003. "

"Last year alone, more than 700,000 people from countries outside the industrialized world were introduced to AIDS drugs. The U.N. agency said that 28 percent of the estimated 7 million people in nonindustrialized nations who need the medications are now getting them. "

""Yes, 28 percent of those in need is not satisfactory," Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of HIV/AIDS programs for the WHO, said during a telephone press conference from London. "On the other hand, it's a remarkable success when you think that three years ago treatment access was so limited." "

"In Latin American and Caribbean nations, the U.N. agency estimates that 355,000 patients, or 72 percent of those who need AIDS drugs to survive, are now getting them -- the highest treatment rates outside the industrialized world. "

"De Cock warned that the progress being made in treatment of AIDS is not sustainable without progress in prevention, where the news is not encouraging. "For every patient gaining access to therapy, there are six new infections,'' he warned. Last year, an estimated 4.2 million persons were infected with HIV. "

"He said efforts to treat pregnant women and newborns with short courses of AIDS drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV have been "woefully inadequate," with only 10 percent of women in need of the treatment receiving it. "

""This is very sobering in that pediatric HIV disease is on the brink of elimination in the industrialized world," De Cock said. "

"Access to the medications still varies within underdeveloped countries, even in regions where the percentage of those covered has become significant. For example, in Kenya, AIDS drug coverage had
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