South Africa's former President, Nelson Mandela, has called for AIDS drugs to be supplied to all who need them in the developing world. Mr Mandela, addressing the closing ceremony of the 14th International AIDS conference in Barcelona, labelled the disease a war against humanity.
It is now over two decades since AIDS was first identified, and yet the news from the world's biggest ever conference on the disease was grim. Twenty million people have died over the past 20 years -- twice that number are now living with the disease. Without urgent help, close to 70 million could die by 2020.
Access to drugs is an ongoing concern. Drugs that make HIV infection a manageable condition in the west reach only one in 1,000 in Africa. There is sill not sign of a cure, and it will be several years before any vaccine becomes available.
Nelson Mandela urged the world to mobilise against a disease he said had unleashed a war on humanity. In particular, he focused on children orphaned by AIDS.
The US and other Western governments have borne the brunt of protests at the meeting, with activists demanding that they commit the missing billions to the UN'S fight against AIDS. Former US President Bill Clinton urged the world's richest nations to identify what is needed and act.
But many leading figures in the AIDS campaign said the 14th International Conference was a chilling reminder of the long road ahead in the fight against AIDS.
