In a report Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontière or MSF) highlights major direct and indirect constraints which contribute to a huge treatment gap in Western and Central Africa as compared to other regions: a limited political will, weak health systems and few ways to improve access to quality treatments.
In Photos: Millions of Africans Left Out of Global HIV Response
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Patrick Luyeye and Selly Bentone (right) examine patient Nadine, 28, at the Centre Hospitalier de Kabinda, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontière or MSF) has observed an excessively high number of patients arriving with serious complications resulting from lack of treatment. (MSF/Mario Travaini)
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André, 42, photographed in the HIV-AIDS ward of the Centre Hospitalier Kabinda in Kinshasa, DRC, Jan. 24, 2012. (MSF/Mario Travaini)
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André, 42, photographed in the HIV-AIDS ward of the Centre Hospitalier Kabinda in Kinshasa, Jan. 24, 2012. DRC only has a 15 percent ARV coverage rate, one of the lowest in the world. Of all African countries, only Somalia and Sudan have similar rates. (MSF/Mario Travaini)
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Julia, an AIDS patient being treated at Kabinda Hospital Center, Kinshasa. The number of HIV-positive people in DRC is currently estimated at more than one million, 350,000 of whom could benefit from ARV treatment. However, only 44,000 are receiving treatment at this time. (MSF/Mario Travaini).