Thousands of people from around the world convened in Bangkok for the 15th International Aids Conference. High on the six-day meeting’s agenda was the cost and supply of HIV/AIDS medication.

Activists and NGOs have fought hard to get pharma companies to provide cheap or even free AIDS medicines for the millions of sufferers.

Some businesses complain that they have no choice but to give away AIDS drugs – it’s a case of realpolitik rather than goodwill, they say. For example, some firms accuse governments of threatening them with removing intellectual property licenses if they do not readily provide their products.

Nevertheless, responsibility for supplying AIDS drugs does not rest solely with business.

Stockpiles of cheap drugs are not reaching the people who need them due to a lack of basic infrastructure to distribute them.

The majority of AIDS patients live in the poorest areas of the globe which are difficult to reach, where there are few if any health clinics and inadequate storage and refrigeration facilities for drugs – if they manage to get there.