The number of Aids sufferers in the developing world receiving drug treatment has nearly doubled over the past year but some poor countries need sharply to increase their efforts, according to official agencies involved in combating the disease.

A joint announcement by the US administration, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations programme on Aids (UNAids) and the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria said that by the end of last year, 700,000 people were receiving treatment with antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, which suppress the effects of Aids. The total, 75 per cent higher than a year earlier, marks a rapid increase despite the fears of sceptics that drug treatment would prove too difficult and expensive.