ABSTRACT
This conclusion discusses insights and recommendations to the HIV/AIDS epidemic directly; to health systems; and to governance structures, notably for sharing, not shedding sovereignty, more broadly. The foremost reason lies in simple statistics: for every two people who access ARVs, another five become infected with the HI-virus. The pivotal recommendation is prevention first, second and last. Prevention involves treatment but which offers a chance to ameliorate the symptoms of HIV/AIDS and to curb the spread of the epidemic. Treatment, particularly ARV treatment, promises to extend lives and improve its quality, if not to turn HIV/AIDS into a chronic manageable disease. A critical reason for the difficulties in access and the dearth of appropriate drugs to treat HIV/AIDS in South Africa is related to drug development and distribution. A number of deals are in the making with regard to both relaxing patent restrictions and to creating patent pools to aid access to HIV/AIDS medications and other drugs.
