$26b needed by WHO

The World Health Organisation has admitted it is unlikely to meet its goal of getting anti-HIV drugs to three million poor people by the end of the year and has called for another US$18 billion ($26 billion) to fight Aids over the next three years.

In a report released six months before its self-imposed deadline, the United Nations agency said around a million people in developing and transitional countries were now getting antiretroviral therapy.

That compares with 400,000 in December 2003.