Global fight against AIDS gets tough

MEXICO CITY: About 33 million people across the world are infected with HIV that causes AIDS, and 2 million die of it each year.

Many developing countries combating AIDS are facing dire shortages of qualified doctors and nurses because they leave for developed countries where they get paid many times more.

Hitting the AIDS virus with drugs before it breaches a widely recommended threshold of damage to the immune system can have major benefits for patients.