Governments'€™ inadequate response to HIV/AIDS came under heavy criticism by global children'€™s rights activist Graca Machel at the world AIDS conference in Barcelona.

Most countries African countries had no or very little patent laws denying them access to cheaper drugs, according to Amir Attaran of the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Attaran, who received a mixed reaction from his audience at the International AIDS Conference (he was booed by some activists), said that South Africa was an exception with extensive patent coverage, but that more than 50 of the 53 countries reviewed had less than 4 out of the 15 essential anti-retrovirals patented.

he Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) desperately wants to work with Government at all levels and has called for an end to the stand off between the two parties. TAC chairperson Mark Heywood claimed at a media gathering at the International AIDS Conference that some health officials had been instructed not to work with TAC.