BANGKOK, July 8 -- PRNewswire/ AsiaNet
'Treatment Access Pledge'
In Addition to Joining in Treatment Access Marches, Hosting Protests and
Rallies During Int'l AIDS Conference, AIDS Advocates Will Now Press Drug
Companies & Others to Sign Pledge that Each Will 'Stand Down' on Enforcement
of Drug Patents in Resource-poor Countries
In anticipation of the upcoming 15th International AIDS Conference which
begins Sunday, July 11th, AIDS advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
the largest AIDS organization in the United States, which operates free
treatment clinics in the US, Africa and Central America, hosted a press
conference today in Bangkok to unveil their plans for advocacy, activism and
protests throughout the weeklong AIDS conference to highlight the pressing need
for increased access to life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ARV) worldwide.
( Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030429/AHFLOGO )
At the press conference, AHF vowed to join respected Thai AIDS activists
from the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) and other
advocates from around the world in demanding accountability and action on
treatment access at the 'Access for All' AIDS treatment rally and march on
Sunday afternoon July 11 just prior to the opening ceremonies of the
conference.
During the Barcelona AIDS conference two years ago, AHF and the
international AIDS coalition, AIDS Therapeutic Treatment Now (ATTN),
spearheaded the similar-themed 'March for Life' in which the 'Barcelona
Declaration,' which called for stepped up funding and treatment access for
2 million people in the developing world, was first introduced.
AIDS Advocates to Introduce Bangkok 'Treatment Access Pledge' During
Conference
In a separate action, AHF advocates will officially unveil the centerpiece
of their intended AIDS advocacy actions planned for the week in a press
conference set for Sunday morning. They and AIDS activists from the
international advocacy coalition AIDS Therapeutic Treatment Now (ATTN) will
introduce the Bangkok 2004 'Treatment Access Pledge.'
"In 2002, we called for stepped up funding and access to life-saving ARV
treatment for 2 million people in the developing world when we introduced the
'Barcelona Declaration," said Terri Ford, AHF's Director of Advocacy and a
member of ATTN. "This year, through the Bangkok 'Treatment Access Pledge' we
will call for conference participants -- and in particular, AIDS drug
manufacturers -- to fully commit to this year's conference theme of 'Access
for All.' Throughout the conference, we will seek out pharmaceutical
companies to sign on to, and honor, our 'Treatment Access Pledge' and commit
to 'stand down' on patent enforcement in resource-poor countries so that
life-saving HIV/AIDS meds can truly get to those in need."
The Bangkok 'Treatment Action Pledge' states:
1.) All rich nations should pledge to use generics in HIV/AIDS treatment
scale-up plans in aid to poor countries;
2.) All drug manufacturers should pledge to 'stand down' in defense of
AIDS patents in the developing world;
3.) All resource-poor countries should pledge to eliminate bureaucratic
barriers to AIDS treatment;
4.) The World Health Organization and other stakeholders should pledge to
maintain and guarantee international safety standards for AIDS
generics.
AHF to Support Thai Activists on Thai/US Free Trade Agreement
In support of and solidarity with Thai activists, AIDS Healthcare
Foundation today also announced its opposition to the inclusion of drug
patents in the Free Trade Agreement currently being negotiated between
Thailand and the United States. "The pharmaceutical industry, the most
profitable industry in the world, simply does NOT need additional protection
on patents for AIDS drugs," said AHF's Ford. "This protection of patents
would hinder generic production and further limit access to much-needed
life-saving medications to the people who most need them."
AHF, Other AIDS Advocates to Press US to Expand Number of Asian Countries
Eligible for PEPFAR Funding
Last week (just one week before worldwide media attention began focusing
on the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok) US government officials
announced that Vietnam would become the fifteenth country -- and first Asian
country -- to be eligible to part of President Bush's $15 billion dollar
Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
However, this well-intentioned program has fallen far short of its goals
of getting 500,000 people in the developing world on ARV treatment by
September 2004. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation web cast,
fewer than 1,300 people worldwide are on life-saving ARV treatment via
PEPFAR-funded programs to date.
By comparison, AHF, a US-based non-profit medical provider, which
currently operates treatment clinics in South Africa, Uganda and Honduras,
currently treats 2,000 patients in the developing world via its AHF Global
Immunity program -- and has done so with NO PEPFAR funding.
"To have only one country in Asia receiving aid from the President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is simply not acceptable," said Michael
Weinstein, AHF's President in a statement from Los Angeles before leaving to
attend the conference. "Particularly when a country like Thailand has a
significant need -- more than 312,000 people living with AIDS, yet fewer than
50,000 of whom are on treatment -- and has both the infrastructure and
determination to rapidly scale up delivery of such life-saving AIDS treatment.
American funding and AIDS treatment efforts such as PEPFAR must look beyond the
fifteen countries so that there truly is 'Access for All' to these life-saving
anti-retroviral therapies."
SOURCE: AIDS Healthcare Foundation
CONTACT: Ged Kenslea, Communications Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation
+1-323-860-5225 or cell +1-323-791-5526
Bangkok +66 (0) 1.250.0551
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030429/AHFLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk: [email protected]
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