Around 22 billion dollars (18 billion euros) a year will be needed by 2008 to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Funding needs are rising steadily, and are set to reach 15 billion dollars next year and 18 billion dollars in 2007, UNAIDS, a UN joint inter-agency porject, said.
Meanwhile, donations are expected to lag far behind, it added.
According to the agency's latest projections, a total of 8.3 billion dollars will be available from all donors to fight the disease this year.
That is set to increase to 8.9 billion dollars in 2006 and 10 billion dollars in 2007.
"We have come a long way in mobilizing extra funds for AIDS, moving from millions to billions, but we still fall short," said Peter Piot, head of
Funding is needed to cover everything from prevention, treatment and care, to support for orphans, management of AIDS programmes and training of medical workers, UNAIDS said.
"AIDS poses an exceptional threat to humanity and the response needs to be equally exceptional, recognizing the urgency as well as the need for long term planning and financing," said Piot in a statement.
Worldwide, approximately 39.4 million people are infected by HIV, around two-thirds of them in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Some 4.9 million have fully-developed AIDS.
More than 8,000 people die every day from AIDS-related conditions, and the disease has left 15 million orphans.
