HIV/AIDS is shifting out of the eye of the public – it seems that the drugs available transformed a deadly disease into a chronic one. Only people deeper involved notice that we have not yet turned the tide and that still millions dying as a consequence of HIV/AIDS.
There are many reasons for things could go terribly wrong again and just as food for thoughts I want to highlight some of them coming from the political sector:
* India-EU Trade deal
According to UN AIDS 86% of people around the world taking medication the pills come as generics from India. The EU and India negotiating in the moment a free-trade deal which is a danger to the manufacturing of generic medicine because the deal delays or extends patents, requires exclusivity and looks for harsher border controls enforcement rules.
* USA deals
The USA is in the moment negotiating several deals with different partners, amongst them Mercosur (the common market of South America), but also with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam (Trans-Pacific partnership trade agreement). In these agreements, the USA pushes for stricter patent rights and new forms of intellectual property enforcement to intercept generics more easily. The trans pacific partnership trade agreement will be a draft for further agreements between the USA and the developing world and threatens the well-being of HIV/AIDS patients around the world while protecting the big pharmaceutical industry.
* Global AIDS Fund and research
The Global AIDS Fund lacks money and more and more countries are not paying in but negotiating one to one agreements with their perspective partner countries. The aim to bring all patients on treatment and to turn the tide is threatened. The financial crisis and the inability of the political elite to modernize economics and bring back stability means that money for research is also getting less. We not only need new drugs, the aim is still to eradicate HIV and AIDS and to create a cure for the syndrome.
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Treatment, Politics and Society, Reflection, Aids, EU, Global Aids Fund, hiv, india, Mercosu, Politics and Society, research, trade agreement, usa
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 