UNAIDS is “confident” that 1 million HIV-positive people in the Asian Pacific region will receive antiretroviral drugs by 2011, reports Agence France-Presse.

According to a U.N. report that was released last year, an estimated 5 million Asians are HIV positive, with many of them residing in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said that one fifth of the international financing institution’s $1.5 billion budget will help Asia Pacific countries boost their prevention and treatment efforts.

“We’re halfway through,” said UNAIDS regional director Prasada Rao. “There are still about 500,000 more who need to be covered by antiretroviral treatment [before we] reach the universal access target.”

About 565,000 HIV-positive people in the region are already receiving treatment.