Doctors are being forced to turn away people with HIV/ in eight African countries as donors cut funding amid the global economic meltdown.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, -Doctors Without Borders, said on Thursday that the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — a major, independent supporter of AIDS programs around the world — was under pressure from the wealthy governments that fund it to cut back.
The fund's budget for the next three years will be determined at meetings in October.
MSF urged rich countries to fulfill their obligations to poorer nations, saying the funding cuts threaten to unravel years of progress on the continent hardest hit by AIDS.
The MSF study looked at AIDS programs in Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, and found the effects of funding cuts widespread.
In Uganda and Mozambique health workers say they can't afford to follow international standards when treatment should be started, while in Kenya clinics fear running out of money.
MSF found in other countries, people were turned away because the clinics did not have enough medication.
Dr. Eric Goemaere, medical coordinator in South Africa for MSF, said donors were citing the global recession as a reason for cutbacks. But he said that was no excuse for backing off on commitments to step up the fight against AIDS.
