WHO AIDS scheme in need of funds

The World Health Organisation (WHO) scheme to provide 3 million people with anti-AIDS drugs by the end of 2005 has run out of funds. UN officials said the WHO "3 by 5" initiative was in danger of being unsuccessful because governments had failed to come forward with funding for an important part of the operation. The chief of staff for the WHO's HIV/AIDS division, Alex Ross, told the Associated Press agency that the initiative had only received US $65 million of the $218 million needed over the next two years, and most of the funds had already been used up. Ross said: "We are now very close to the margin. We are getting to the point now where our ability to manoeuvre and serve countries is getting narrower and narrower."