United Nations envoy Stephen Lewis said Sunday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision not to attend the six-day International AIDS Conference taking place in Toronto is a "terrible mistake."

"In a very real way it's a slap in the face to the international community of activists and scientists and researchers and advocates and agencies all gathered to deal with the single greatest problem on the planet," Lewis told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

Organizers of the conference have noted that former U.S. president Bill Clinton accepted an invitation to attend, and when the AIDS conference was being organized, before the election in January that ousted the Liberals from power, then prime minister Paul Martin indicated that he would attend. Brian Mulroney also attended when he was prime minister.

"Instead he (Harper) sends a surrogate health minister -- it's just profoundly inappropriate and I think it's a measure of the government's commitment to (fighting) the disease," Lewis said.

Lewis lambasted Canada's federal government for failing to live up to its commitment to fight the global spread of AIDS and other diseases.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "is now $1 billion short in 2006 (and) more than $1 billion short in 2007," said Lewis, "even with a huge recent contribution from (Microsoft founder) Bill Gates" which committed $500 million U.S. over five years.

"It is absolutely fascinating and equivalently heartbreaking," said Lewis, that funding promised at the G8 summit in Gleneagles last July to target aid, debt and trade, is now unraveling.

In particular, the Harper government has proved "extraordinarily embarrassing in its inability to manufacture the generic drugs for export to Africa," Lewis said. Three years after making a commitment to export more drugs "not a single tablet has left this country."

Generic drug manufacturer Apotex invested $100 million to manufacture medicine for Doctors Without Borders, but still has no license to sell it. Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement has said the legislation is problematic, and will have to be examined.

Lewis said that he doesn't "get a sense of real urgency around the subject matter, nor has Harper shown any particular wish to implement or set a timetable for that famous target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for foreign aid."

Funds included in this year's federal budget for foreign aid just honored the increase that the NDP had negotiated with the Liberals, he said, and noted that the eight per cent increase year-on-year was one that Jean Chretien introduced when he was prime minister.

"As a matter of fact, by the year 2010 our percentage of gross national product devoted to foreign aid will be less than it is now," Lewis noted.

The AIDS conference in Toronto cost $20 million to mount and is set to bring $22 million into Toronto's tourism coffers.

There is "subdued optimism" at this year's conference that wasn't characteristic of previous conferences, Lewis said, largely because of advances in treatment that are keeping people alive.

Researchers have said they are hoping to halt the spread of the disease by combining prevention with distribution of a potential vaccine.

But HIV infection remains high, even in Canada.

"We are not winning the battle --we have more people living in Canada infected today than 10 years ago," said. Dr. Kelly Macdonald of the University of Toronto. She cited major increases in infections in women and aboriginal people and other disadvantaged Canadians.

AIDS death toll continues to grow

To date, it's estimated that AIDS has killed 25 million people worldwide.

Every single year since the disease was first identified a quarter of a century ago, the number of people who are infected has grown, as has the death toll.

About 40 million are currently living with HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS, and an estimated 11,000 die each day.

In many nations, awareness about the worst health crisis in history appears to travel slowly.

Those in developing countries, especially in Africa where the disease runs rampant, have little chance of getting treatments that are saving lives across Europe and North America.

Legislation meant to provide cheap drugs to Africa has been glaringly ineffective, with bureaucratic red tape and corporate dithering completely blocking the flow of medicine to those who need it.

Other regions ravaged by HIV/AIDS include South America, the Caribbean, Indonesia and Russia.

More funding needed

Worldwide, resources to battle HIV/AIDS have grown to $8 billion US last year from $300 million a decade ago.

But UNAIDS says much more funding is needed -- estimating that $15 billion would be nearer the mark.