International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

More needs to be done to tackle the global health threat that is HIV and Aids, according to the international charity Avert.

Director Annabel Kanabus said the issue of prevention is "absolutely getting forgotten about", with 80 per cent of the Aids budget particularly afflicted nations such as South Africa being spent on treatment.

Given her claim that for every two people having treatment, there is an additional three that are being infected, Ms Kanabus said this was extremely problematic.

She added: "Of course, prevention is sometimes slightly more difficult to measure. But when you are talking about effective prevention it is very easy to reach people with awareness initiatives.

"You could do that through the media, the radio or TV. But how many people have really, seriously had prevention which has actually focused on changing their behaviour?"

According to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Aids, governments around the world have signed up to the goal of 'Universal Access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support' by 2010.

However, it is claimed that the world is not on track to meet this target with only a third of the nine million people who need HIV treatment currently receiving access.