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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: Affordable Drugs
Africa: Affordable Drugs
Date distributed (ymd): 001011
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+ +US policy focus+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains three short documents related to affordable
drugs for HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable
diseases.
The first is a media advisory from ACT UP Philadelphia, announcing
a demonstration targeting U.S. Presidential candidate George W.
Bush. Last year ACT UP targeted Vice-President Gore for his role
in pressuring South Africa to stop legislation allowing compulsory
licensing and parallel imports of generic HIV/AIDS drugs.
In September 1999 drug companies suspended their legal action
against South Africa on the legislation, and in December President
Clinton announced a more "flexible' U.S. position on this issue.
(See
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/99sep2/21sep-aids_drugs.html
and
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/99dec1/3dec-aids_drugs.html)
The second document, excerpted from Action for Southern Africa's
Trade and Development Update, notes that the drug companies
resumed their legal action in South Africa in July this year.
The third document is a statement from Médecins sans Frontières ,
with a critique of the World Health Organization's new "Massive
Effort" against communicable diseases (see http://www.who.ch), for
not going far enough to "challenge the status quo" and to call for
adequate investment in new measures against diseases such as
malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
For additional information, see other documents referenced at
http://www.africapolicy.org/action/health.htm
and, in particular the following web sites:
Treatment Action Campaign (http://www.tac.org.za)
Health Global Access Project (http://aids.org/healthgap)
MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines (http://www.accessmed-msf.org)
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ACT UP * Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2000
CONTACT: Paul Davis, 215.731.1844 or page: 215.212.9050 If you
reach our voice mail system, leave a message in box 9.
pdavis@critpath.org
AIDS ACTIVISTS TO TARGET BUSH ON MASS PROTEST FRIDAY THE 13TH
- Bush's ties to drug industry "deadly" for millions in US and
abroad denied affordable generic AIDS drugs
- Activists charge unlucky Candidate Bush with "Texas AIDS
Disaster";
- Arrests Expected
LUCKY FRIDAY FOR BUSH: THIS Friday the 13th.
Transportation:
Philly Area: free buses leave 8 am from Broad and Walnut. Return by
7 pm. Lunch provided.
Washington, DC: First st. between C & D, near Capitol South Metro
stop.
NYC: e-mail for info on free transportation: jr273@columbia.edu
Who: 1000 people with AIDS and their friends and families. The
sponsoring group ACT UP Philadelphia is the largest grassroots AIDS
protest group in the U.S.
What: Activists from throughout the East Coast will target
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush at the Republican
National Committee's Washington, D.C. headquarters in a powerful,
nonviolent protest Friday, October 13, 2000.
The demonstration will include a stunning image of G. W. Bush as a
puppet controlled by drug industry, as well as visual displays such
as a procession of coffins and an "empty pill bottle drop"
symbolizing the lack of access to affordable AIDS drugs that will
result from a Bush presidency. A performance by the ACT UP Gospel
Choir is anticipated.
Protest speakers will include national and international leaders in
the fight against AIDS, united in their condemnation of Candidate
Bush's record on HIV/AIDS during his five years as Texas' governor,
and outraged that a Bush presidency will accelerate the AIDS crisis
at home and abroad.
When: Friday, October 13, 2000 at 12 noon.
Where: Republican National Committee Headquarters, First St.
between C & D, S.E. Washington, D.C.
Why: Despite U.S. policy on AIDS in Africa figuring prominently in
domestic debate over the last two years, Bush has refused to state
his plan for confronting the AIDS crisis in the U.S. and in the
developing world. Bush has refused to respond to criticism of his
record on AIDS in Texas, where more than 10,000 people with AIDS
have died under his watch as governor.
Background: ACT UP insists that Bush's crushing silence on HIV
speaks volumes to his lack of commitment to confronting the global
killer: "As Texas governor he can't bring himself to say HIV in
public, but he was happy to slash funding to AIDS prevention
programs for Latinos," said Jose DeMarco of ACT UP. "The next
president will be faced with a colossal public health crisis. Bush
will write off the lives of millions of people with AIDS who are
denied access to cheap generic AIDS drugs, just as he has written
off the lives of Texans at highest risk for getting infected with
HIV."
"Bush's record on AIDS in Texas is a dismal failure," said Barry
Busch, ACT UP Philadelphia member. "He stands in opposition to
sensible, proven effective AIDS prevention programs, like condom
education. And when it comes to access to AIDS treatment, drug
companies' killer prices on AIDS medication in the third world
keeps his fat cat industry cronies happy - so he's happy, too."
ACT UP has been at the forefront of a domestic campaign forcing the
Clinton/Gore Administration to change U.S. trade policy on access
to life-extending generic AIDS drugs. Bush's strong ties to drug
industry have convinced protesters that Bush will reverse trade
policy reforms achieved by ACT UP and other groups. "Bush's
'compassionate conservatism' will mean the deaths of millions with
AIDS if he takes the White House," said Diane Huff of ACT UP. "As
a woman fighting for the lives of people with AIDS, I must stop
Candidate Bush."
From Southern Africa-Europe Trade and Development Update
Volume 1 Issue 2, September 2000
ACTSA 28 Penton Street London N1 9SA, UK
Tel: +44 20 7833 3133 Fax: +44 20 7837 3001
E-mail: liz.dodd@actsa.org Web: http://www.actsa.org
Pharmaceutical companies reinstate South African legal challenge
Over forty large pharmaceutical companies are contesting that South
Africa's Medicines and Related Substance Act is unconstitutional as
it violates previous patent protection legislation and contravenes
South Africa's obligations under the WTO TRIPS agreement. The
controversial section of the legislation would allow South Africa
to issue compulsory licenses to manufacture versions of key drugs
that are still under patent. The legal action had been suspended
but was revived in July. Until the matter is resolved the South
African Government cannot proceed with implementation.
When South Africa passed the legislation in 1997 both the US
and the European Union applied significant pressure to stop its
implementation.
Campaigners in South Africa, Europe and the United States are
arguing that the powerful pharmaceutical lobby is effectively
pressuring US and European Governments to put their interests over
access to vital drugs for some of the world's poorest people.
Countries such as Brazil and Thailand are able to provide
affordable drugs to combat diseases such as HIV/AIDS through
manufacturing or importing generic products.
Much of the discussion at the 13th International AIDS Conference
held in Durban in July centred on these issues. Mark Heywood,
Director of the AIDS Law Project in Johannesburg, said, "This
conference is unique for its focus on treatment and barriers to
treatment for people living with HIV in Africa and the rest of the
developing world. We've always expected the worst from the
pharmaceutical companies and now we're just getting our act
together in figuring out how to challenge their pricing policies
which put drugs out of reach for so many poor people." For more
information see the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) website at
http://www.tac.org.za
October 4, 2000 - Geneva - Press Release
WHO's "Massive effort" is not agressive enough says Médecins Sans
Frontières
For further information please call Daniel Berman at +41 79 286
9649 or Yves Bellego + 41 79 449 4463
Daniel BERMAN
MSF/ Rue du Lac 12 PO Box 6090 CH-1211 Geneva 6 Switzerland
tel: +41 22 849 84 07, fax: +41 22 849 84 04,
mobile:+ 41 79 286 96 49, e-mail: daniel_berman@geneva.msf.org
Geneva, 4 October 2000 -
WHO's new "Massive Effort" to address HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and
malaria is based on a faulty premise, according to comments made
today by Médecins sans Frontières at the United Nations Geneva
headquarters. MSF disagreed with WHO's claim that "each death [from
these three diseases] can be avoided with low cost technologies
that are available today." The "Massive Effort" advocacy campaign
is being discussed this week with more than 80 NGOs in Winterthur,
Switzerland. It is a response to the G8's new global battle against
infectious diseases, announced at Okinawa last July.
"Although we appreciate that WHO is raising awareness about the
dramatic impact of communicable diseases in developing countries
and the need for prevention, we believe that the current emphasis
on 'existing interventions' misleads the public into thinking that
we already have the answers," said James Orbinski, President of
MSF's International Council. "In fact, many effective medicines are
either too expensive or don't exist. We think WHO's emerging plan
fails to challenge the status quo."
MSF strongly supports many of WHO's proposed solutions, such as bed
nets for malaria prevention and additional funding for the current
TB strategy (DOTS), but called on WHO to be more ambitious in the
short and middle-term. WHO's approach to Aids was cited as an
illustration of the problem.
In its analysis to battle Aids, WHO outlines a series of prevention
strategies and mentions the need to treat opportunistic infections.
However, the drug cocktails (antiretrovirals) that have caused Aids
deaths to plummet in wealthy countries are described as too
expensive to consider for developing countries. In light of the
fact that triple drug therapy can now be purchased for USD 800, MSF
spoke of a moral obligation to begin treating patients where
possible. Right now, some countries, such as Uganda, Ivory Coast
and El Salvador are committed to expanding their Aids programs. MSF
insists that these countries should receive assistance from WHO to
secure affordable quality drugs.
"We also need WHO to emphasize the fact that research and
development is at a standstill for the diseases that most affect
people in poor countries. We think that this message should be a
critical part of the Massive Effort advocacy campaign being
launched this week in Winterthur," said Orbinski. "Some of the
public/private partnerships to find new drugs for TB and malaria
may eventually yield results but the current level of activity
needs to be dramatically increased. It is WHO that should be
challenging national governments to ramp up public sector research
for diseases that have been abandoned by the multinational drug
industry."
Of the 1,223 new drugs brought to market between 1975 and 1997,
only 13 are indicated to treat tropical diseases. In a time when
the private sector has shifted resources to more lucrative
lifestyle diseases such as baldness and obesity, governments must
fill this void.
Communicable diseases are responsible for 60 percent of the total
disease burden in developing countries and kill 5.5 million people
each year. World-wide 34 million people are infected with HIV, one
person dies every 30 seconds from malaria and nearly one billion
people will be newly infected with TB over the next twenty years.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC provides
accessible information and analysis in order to promote U.S.
and international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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