9 Conclusion
118. HIV/AIDS will continue to present a huge challenge,
to both developing countries and donors, for many years to come.
Indeed, the combination of 7,000 people being newly infected each
day and drug regimes helping people with HIV to live longer means
that the cost of providing HIV/AIDS services may well become unsustainable.
As we have made clear, prevention is key, particularly for marginalised
groups but also for general populations in high-prevalence countries.
119. DFID's approach of focusing its efforts on funding
health services in developing countries is a logical response
to the HIV/AIDS challenge. Capable and well-resourced health systems
will be able to take forward effective prevention strategies as
well as offering treatment and care. But this is a longer-term
strategy. Dedicated funding to tackle HIV/AIDS will also continue
to be needed to fill the wide gaps that exist in services in developing
countries and which will remain in the short and medium-term.
It is vital that these two mechanisms for funding HIV/AIDS services
are complementary and well-integrated.
120. We look forward to the next stage of DFID's
Strategy: its Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, which is expected
to be published around the same time as this Report. We hope it
will answer some of the many important questions that we have
raised.
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