GENEVA, May 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) urged the world to act in time to tackle the issue of HIV/AIDS in its newly released world health report on Tuesday.

    The world has reached a crucial moment in the history of HIV/AIDS, and now has an unprecedented opportunity to alter its course,says the report, World Health Report 2004 -- Changing History.

    The report regards tackling HIV/AIDS as the world's most urgentpublic health challenge, saying the disease is now the leading cause of death for young adults worldwide though it was unknown barely a quarter of a century ago.

    The report calls for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy that links prevention, treatment, care and long-term support, and initiatives to make the effective antiretroviral therapy (known as"3 by 5") available to 3 million people by the end of 2005.

    The "3 by 5" initiative "provides new ways to pursue the objectives for which WHO has been working since it was founded 56 years ago," WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook said in a message for the report.

    "Future generations will judge our era in large part by our response to the AIDS pandemic," he said.

    "By tackling it decisively, we will also be building health systems that can meet the health needs of today and tomorrow, and continue the advance to Health for All. This is a historic opportunity we cannot afford to miss," he added.

    Until now, treatment of the disease has been the most neglectedelement in most developing countries. Almost 6 million people in developing countries will die in the near future if they do not receive treatment, but only about 400,000 of them were receiving it in 2003.

    In 2003, 3 million people died of AIDS and 5 million others became infected with HIV.

    HIV/AIDS has killed more than 20 million people, while an estimated 34 million to 46 million others are living with the disease. Enditem