BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported Wednesday 1.04 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have received the antiretroviral drugs that prevent pregnant women from passing the virus on to their babies.

    ;WHO said at the 16th International AIDS Conference, held in Toronto, Canada, that ten times more people in Africa are receiving life-saving AIDS drugs than just three years ago, but most sufferers still get no treatment and the pandemic continues to spread.

    "We have reached just one-quarter of the people in need in low- and middle-income countries, and the number of those who need treatment will continue to grow. Our efforts to overcome the obstacles to treatment access must grow even faster," said Dr Kevin de Cock, the WHO's director for HIV/AIDS.

    "In low- and middle-income countries, just over 1.6 million persons were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of June 2006, a 24 percent increase over the 1.3 million who had access to the drugs in December 2005¡± he added.   Enditem

    (Agencies)