Need for Emphasis onTreatment

AIDS programs indeveloping countries put too little emphasis on treatment,the World HealthOrganization said Tuesday,asking for more small community-based clinics to beopened to treat HIV-infected people?

An estimated 36million to 46 million people are living with AIDS,two-thirds of them inAfrica,but only 440,000 people in developing countries were receiving treatmentby the end of 2003,the UN health agency said in its

annual report.

"Withouttreatment,all of them will die a premature and in most cases painfuldeath,"the WHO said in the? 169-page World Health Report.

WHO Director GeneralLee Jong-wook said community-based treatment should be added to diseasepre-vention and care for sufferers in AIDS programs.

"Futuregenerations will judge our time in large part by our response to the AIDSdisease,"Lee said."By tackling it decisively we will also be buildinghealth systems that can meet the health needs of today and

tomorrow.This is ahistoric opportunity we cannot afford to miss,"he added.

Antiretroviral drugsenable people hit by AIDS to live longer.The annual cost of treatment,which wasabout$10,000 when the drugs were first developed,has dropped to about$150.

Treatment programsalso help AIDS prevention efforts,the report said,citing great demands fortesting and counseling where treatment has been made available.

Good counseling inturn leads to more effective prevention in those who are uninfected,andsignificantly reduces the potential for HIV carriers to pass on theinfection,the report said.

Since its discoveryin the l980s,more than 20 million have died of AIDS,mostly in poor countries?According toLee,our response to the AIDS disease is

A.a matter of greatsignificance

B.a matter of littlesignificance

C.overemphasized

D.timely