Despite progress, world still failing HIV carriers: AIDS chief

SYDNEY (AFP) - The global community has not done enough to prevent the spread of HIV and millions of deaths from preventable disease are a "shameful failure," said the head of the International AIDS Society Sunday.

Society president Pedro Cahn was speaking ahead of the first session of the fourth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Sydney.

Cahn said 11,000 people were still contracting HIV each day despite the huge advances in knowledge of and treatments for the virus.

He said fewer than a third of those living with HIV in low and middle income countries were treated with life-saving medication and even fewer could access proven prevention methods such as condoms and clean syringes.

"Science has given us the tools to prevent and treat HIV effectively," he said.

"The fact that we have not yet translated this science into practice is a shameful failure on the part of the global community."