WHO pressures rich nations for more AIDS funding

Rich nations have once again been urged to provide more money for tackling the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. During a recent global health conference in Brazil, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Jong-Wook Lee, called on Britain, Japan and Scandinavian nations in particular, to donate more money to the organisation's global push against the disease. He said while funding for HIV/AIDS had increased from US $3.2 billion in 2002 to $4.7 billion, it was still less than half the yearly total needed to fight the spread of the epidemic and provide drugs to treat HIV-positive people. Lee said in a Reuters report that "very urgent action and not the business-as-usual approach" was now needed.