A combined WHO/UNAids/Unicef report indicates that despite some impressive increases in availability, 72% of people who could benefit from antiretroviral medications still aren't receiving them. This isn't just a matter of buying additional life for people -- although that should be enough -- it's also important for stopping the spread of AIDS and avoiding the continued economic devastation of areas struck by the disease.
As I've mentioned before, diseases don't just shorten lives, they also lead to many years of disability, which in turns reduces quality of life and removes the sufferer from the economic equation for their country. Antiretrovirals can chop away years and years of disability.
Even more critical is the need for antiretrovirals for pregnant and nursing mothers. In this context, not only do they curtail the AIDS orphan problem now seen across Africa, but they also prevent vertical transmission of HIV. Unfortunately, the report indicates that only 11% of infected pregnant women receive antiretroviral therapy. This is going to be an especially bad problems in North Africa and the Middle East, where overall access to meds is just 6%.
Pharma companies have argued against wider availability of affordable "second generation" AIDS meds based on the idea that they're "too complex" for poor, third-world countries to distribute properly. The report calls them on this classic racist trope, pointing out that where they've been deployed, the third world is handling the new drugs just fine, thanks.