The Economist has an informative overview of the AIDS situation right now.

Basically, the people are beginning to get more funding from the politicians, but it's really only quieting some activist groups, not solving problems. A lot of woes are still political issues, like laws that restrict the distribution of cheaper generic drugs in certain countries, making it even harder for people to get AIDS/HIV care.

Notable problems:

"The first reason for this is that Congress requires at least one-third of the prevention money to be spent on programmes that focus on sexual abstinence. Practice has shown that such an approach does not work—at least it does not work without an equal or greater emphasis on the use of condoms. Condoms are included in the “ABC” (Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom) acronym that has been coined to describe this part of PEPFAR. But activists fear that the importance of condom use is being played down for religious reasons.

Nor are the activists pleased with the plan’s arrangements on antiviral drugs, which are supposed to reach 200,000 people by the end of this year and many more in future years. Those groups that have so far been awarded contracts under the plan have no choice but to deploy medicines approved by America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That might sound reasonable, but most such drugs are branded American products. Cheaper (foreign-made) generics are not permitted without FDA say-so, despite the fact that many have been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A third source of unhappiness is to be found in some of the countries where the cash is being spent. While recipient governments say they are grateful for the money, local officials—in Uganda and Rwanda, for example—complain privately that they have not been adequately consulted in the plan’s projects for their countries, and are worried these may not fit in with national strategies to fight the disease. This lack of consultation may be teething trouble. Randall Tobias, Mr Bush’s global AIDS co-ordinator (pictured above at the Bangkok conference), says it is PEPFAR’s intention to collaborate with local health ministries."

Essentially, while there is money being thrown at the issues, there is no real confrontation to the problem. Some tactics are offensive to other cultures or just plain stupid. Also, AIDS care in the United States is slow and underfuned (and we're among the wealthiest people in the world). There are nearly 60,000 people on the ADAP waiting list for AIDS care in the United States. So, imagine a place like Africa or Asia (1 in 4 new cases of HIV are from Asia) where AIDS is more widespread. Something is very wrong here.