Low Cost AIDS Drugs Save Lives 
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay
“Sex Tourists Stay Away” that's one of the scary messages from Asia as the 15th. International AIDS conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, came to an end. The latest UN report on the spread of disease indicates that it is steadily spreading and infecting more people than ever before despite massive efforts to contain it. Five percent of all people with Aids are women some of them victimised in the sex trade by promiscuous sex tourists.
Most of the new infections since 2001 have incurred in the mainlands of Asia. Japan and the Middle East have seen increases too. The most vulnerable of all are young girls and women trafficked or lured into the sex tourist business. The brothels of Thailand, India and Sri Lanka have the highest recorded increases. Sex tourist destinations such as Manila, Angeles City and Puerto Galera in the Philippines, have been hard hit too. While low in comparison to the other nations the rate of infection in the Philippines is on the increase. There were 9,000 reported cases last year and an estimated ten times that go unreported. That’s almost double the 2001 figure.
Contributing to the spread of this incurable disease is the inexplicable policy of the Philippine Government to allow the unabated growth of the sex industry. Officials have continued to issue permits and licenses for sex clubs that shamelessly exploit impoverished women and children who are at greatest risk of infection. Police are among the high-risk groups too since they enjoy free sex in many of these brothels in return for non-implementation of the law. They are permanently compromised.
The political-will and moral courage to close down the hundreds of brothels and bars is painfully absent despite the increase in single male tourist arrivals in the country and the fact that there have been 1.1 million people newly infected in Asia in 2003.
The policy of George W. Bush came in for a lot of criticism during the conference for allegedly exploiting the pandemic and causing suffering to push its own economic and religious agenda. The greatest hostility was aimed at the policy of the Bush administration requiring US Aid money be used only to buy the astronomically priced antiretroviral (AVR) drugs from U.S. pharmaceutical companies. The same drugs that hold the disease in check are available in developing nations at a fraction of the cost. Thus more victims could be treated and lives saved for the same money, critics say.
Some countries like India and Brazil do not allow the patenting of products, just processes. This gave the manufactures of lifesaving generic non-brand name drugs a huge boost and their low cost drugs are saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
In Thailand approximately 680,000 people live with the HIV-Aids virus and this is increasing with 29,000 new infected people annually. About 300,000 Thai have already died from HIV-Aids related sickness as the virus ravages their immune systems. Most died because they could not afford the drugs that can hold the virus in check. In 2002 the cost of treating a sufferer for one year was $5,880 and only the rich could survive.
The ability to manufacture the same drug cheaply and make them available to all was inhibited by the pressure of the International Pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Government. Fearful of trade restrictions the Thai Government introduced a law allowing drugs to be patented despite the fact that this was disastrous to the public health and welfare of the people. The Pharmaceutical companies know collectively as Big Pharma, with little or no compassion, care or interest in the well being of the poor, demanded their profits from their high priced drugs.
Despite the legal restrictions the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) with the help of an international campaign and local non-government organisations brought about important changes. They produced a low cost pill taken twice a day that holds back the wasting disease at a low cost of US$29 a month. In 2001 the same treatment cost $490 a month.
Thousands of people are now recovering yet the poorest of the poor living on $ 2 or $3 a day have no chance and must lie down and die. It is still a rich man’s world. Yet the government is trying to reach all. There are 160,000 people in dire need but only 23,000 will be reached this year. The legal fight is not yet over, in Thailand more effective drugs are still protected by unjust patent laws.
The ability of the life saving drugs must be there
for all, especially the poor and well being of humans. The sacredness of
life and the reduction of suffering must be of paramount importance in
the global agenda. The pursuit of profits by Big Pharma at the expense
of the dieing must be pushed aside. The reign of institutionalised greed
must be replaced with rule of compassion and care.[END]
