Response by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to President Obama’s December 1 speech on World AIDS Day, during which he committed to reach two million more people with US-funded HIV treatment by the end of 2013, bringing the total number of people on treatment under US funding to nearly 6 million:

This commitment today is the shot in the arm that the global HIV/AIDS response needs right now. We hope this marks the end of donors walking away from supporting global HIV/AIDS, despite evidence that the epidemic can be reversed. People living with HIV around the world will be watching closely to make sure this commitment is turned into reality. Now it is time for all governments – both donors and affected countries alike – to step up, fund the Global Fund, and increase the pace of HIV treatment scale-up, so that the effort to end AIDS is not derailed.

Our doctors and nurses started treating people with HIV in developing countries a decade ago, in the face of widespread skepticism, and yet today half of the people who need treatment now have it. This is the best time to charge full speed ahead and get treatment to everyone who needs it so we can save lives and get ahead of the wave of new infections.

Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Executive Director, Access Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières