Some of the worst predictions have come to pass. Nearly half of those infected with HIV are women and girls, whether married or single, promiscuous or faithful.

"It's clear that the epidemic continues to outrun our efforts to contain it," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in opening statements to a one-day world conference on HIV/AIDS at UN headquarters in New York.

Delegates from 120 countries, including 40 ministers of health, have gathered here to discuss how to reach UN goals set four years ago aimed at reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS through timed targets.

"Last year saw more new infections and AIDS-related deaths than ever before," said Annan.

"If we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, then we must do much, much more," he added.

Better Funding and Leadership Needed

Approximately 40 million people are living with HIV in the world today.

According to Annan, only 12 percent of those in poor countries who need anti-retroviral drugs are getting them.

The UN chief praised efforts by international organizations such as UNAIDS, which co-ordinates several UN agencies in fighting against AIDS, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, for making drugs available in poor countries.

Annan also called on those countries to develop comprehensive plans to fight the epidemic, to develop HIV/AIDS action plans, and to set up national AIDS co-ordinating authorities and national monitoring and evaluation systems.

Better funding and leadership are also necessary, said Annan, along with better education of women and girls, who account for about half those infected with HIV.

'Nothing Less Than Universal Access'

Director of UNAIDS Peter Piot said that in order to beat the epidemic, it is necessary that AIDS "get the same level of attention and concern by the world's leaders as they give to global security -- not an iota less.

"Nothing less than universal access to effective HIV prevention and treatment will be sufficient if we are to keep this epidemic from engulfing the next generations," said Piot.

A funding gap of several billion US dollars needs to be closed in order for poor people to access drugs, said Piot.

Annan also reminded delegates that world leaders will meet at a world summit in September to review the Millennium Development Goals they agreed upon in 2000, among which is the goal to reverse the spread of AIDS.

"The task this year will be much tougher than in 2000 when the declaration was adopted," said Annan. "Instead of setting targets, this time leaders must decide how to achieve them."

Can Goal Be Reached?

Meanwhile, a senior UN AIDS specialist said the world will not meet its goal of halting and reversing the spread of AIDS in 10 years if the disease continues to race faster than efforts to stop it.

Presidents and prime ministers, meeting at the United Nations nearly five years go, set a series of Millennium Development Goals, among them halting and beginning to reverse by 2015 the spread of AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes it.

"We are still moving into a globalization of the AIDS epidemic. Think of eastern Europe, central America, Asia, and maybe tomorrow, the Middle East as well," Peter Piot, head of the UN campaign, told a news conference during the meeting.

"I think it is a realistic (goal) in many countries, but not in every country in the world," Piot said.

More than 39 million people are living with the disease -- despite US$8 billion in anticipated spending this year -- most of them in Africa. Piot said the funds and programs had made the most impact in East Africa, from Ethiopia to Rwanda, but not in southern Africa or in West Africa.

More Young Women Are Being Infected

Some of the worst predictions have come to pass. Nearly half of those infected with HIV are women and girls, whether married or single, promiscuous or faithful.

"The trend is that more young women are being infected than young men," Thoraya Obeid, the head of the UN Population Fund. "If they are married, they can't abstain. They are faithful but the husband is not faithful."

Women, she said, need information, including how to use a female condom to protect themselves, often a sensitive issue, particularly among conservative United States religious groups who favour abstinence-only programs and oppose programs for prostitutes, homosexuals and drug addicts.

Worldwide, the UN report said, some US$8 billion will be available in 2005 to fund programs in 135 low and middle-income countries, a dramatic 23 percent increase over the previous year. Of this amount, rich countries have contributed some US$6.7 billion, six times more than the world spent in 2001.

The money comes mainly from the US, which spent US$2.4 billion last year, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- an independent organization of governments, business and private groups first proposed by Annan four years ago.

The US funds make up a third of the fund's total budget, while Europeans contribute 55 percent. A global task team said at least US$8 billion more is needed over the next three years for prevention, testing and treatment programs around the world.