Former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa and the current Co-Director of the International Advocacy Organization, AIDS-Free World, Stephen Lewis spoke to the two IRIN/PlusNews about the direction of the international response to HIV.

Stephen Lewis said that fight against HIV is at a very difficult phase at present. There is a lack of funding for the global health issue. Western governments are reducing their contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. There is an urgent need to fight the issue but the governments are denying funding and saying that there is a ongoing financial-crisis.

More than 10 million people require HIV treatment urgently but most of the projects are not able to enroll new patients. The same situation is prevalent in many regions including, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and others.

Financial cutbacks are putting more and more lives at risk. There is a urgent need to tackle the health issue because HIV is the worst pandemic in human history. It has already killed 30 million people , nearly 33 million people are infected with it and the infection has resulted in 15 million orphans.