The end of an International AIDS Conference in Vienna has exposed the gulf between scientists and governments on how best to deal with the pandemic.

AIDS workers are growing frustrated at politicians refusal to adapt to new ways of looking at the problem.

It is a stance that displays “discrimination” and “criminal negligence,” according to Julio Montaner, President of the International AIDS Society:

“When there is Wall Street emergency or an oil spill, billions upon billions of dollars are quickly mobilised, but when there is a need for a rapid response to the global health crisis of HIV and AIDS, people’s health deserve a similar response, and yet we can not find it. We must remember that another 7500 people will become infected today, as they did yesterday, and will do tomorrow.”

Many in the scientific community believe the political will to fund the AIDS battle is waning.

The virus infects 33.4 million people globally.

The war against the disease has been described as “like running after an accelerating train.”

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