HIV/AIDS makes the Doctors Without Borders top 10 list ofhumanitarian crises of 2009, the Associated Press reports. A funding shortagecould leave an estimated 10 million HIV-positive people without treatment inthe developing world.  

The medical humanitarian group assembled the list to alertpolicymakers not to ease off the fight against HIV/AIDS, despite the inventionof life-sustaining drugs.  

“In some countries, doctors are turning patients away, advisedto wait until other patients die,” said Sophie Delaunay, executive director ofDoctors Without Borders. “What’s going to happen is that patients are going toshow up at the door of our clinics and there is a high possibility of usgetting overwhelmed.” 

Many countries, including the United States, announced plansto reduce or limit funding, even though they pledged to support universaltreatment by 2010, Delaunay said. 

Some of the other crises on the list include governmentspreventing access to lifesaving assistance in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Sudan; alack of respect for civilian safety and aid efforts in Yemen, Afghanistan,Pakistan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and inadequateinternational funds to fight neglected diseases and malnutrition.