HIV/AIDS

At the end of 2007 about 33 million people were living with HIV, 62 percent of whom were female. Each year around 2.7 million new people become infected with HIV and 2 million die of AIDS. Commonwealth countries represent approximately 30 per cent of the world’s population, but carry a disproportionate 60 per cent of the world’s HIV/AIDS current burden of over 40 million infected people.

We bring together Law Ministers and Attorneys General to address the legal issues that impede the achievement of the HIV/AIDS Universal Access targets. At the Gleneagles G8 summit in July 2005, the UK Government led world leaders in committing to the rapid expansion of HIV treatment with a target of achieving universal access by 2010. At the 2005 World Summit world leaders also committed themselves to this target as part of a massive scaling up of comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care. In 2006, at the second United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, countries agreed to work towards the goal of “universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support” by 2010. These global commitments complement the health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which established targets to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases by 2015 and the HIV/AIDS Millennium Development Goal.

Our main focuses in this area are:

• We are conducting research that examines the main legal challenges in the Commonwealth affecting Universal Access (click here for definition); identify examples where Commonwealth countries have changed or removed laws related to the challenges identified, and the contexts within which these changes occurred; We will work to address these legal barriers by convening Law Ministers and Attorney Generals
  
  
• Conduct a study into access to medicines and the regulation and distribution of medicines in the South and West African regions. The findings will inform a programme to address identified problems, involving training and capacity building in countries.