World AIDS Day

Article by Neil Gerrard from the 'House' Magazine

World AIDS Day was introduced on 1^st December 1988. Since then it has become a key annual event for AIDS campaigners, and an opportunity to focus on the international catastrophe which AIDS has become, to increase awareness, and to tackle the stigma and discrimination which still drive the epidemic.

This year the theme of the day is “Keep The Promise, Accountability”. In 2005 we were reminded of the promises which had been made earlier that year at Gleneagles to deliver universal access to treatment by 2010. This year’s theme is a continuation of that reminder, as will be, with differing emphases, every year’s theme until 2010. Politicians are being asked to live up to the promises which were made, and to be accountable for them.

2006 has been an important year in the response to AIDS. The UN General Assembly Special Session and High Level Meeting in New York in June was the five year review of the Declaration of Commitment at the 2001 Special Session, which was one of the key points in the establishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. This year also marked the fifth anniversary of the Abuja Declaration in Africa. November 2006 is five years since the Doha declaration was signed on access to generic drugs.

There is no question that during the past five years real progress has been made. Far more people in developing countries now have access to antiretroviral drugs, even though we fell some way short of the ‘3 by 5’ target, of getting three million people on to the drugs by 2005. The Global Fund is supporting projects in 136 countries, with a spending commitment of $6.6 billion, an impressive record for an organisation less than 5 years old.

However, if we are to approach the 2010 target we will need a step change in the rate of progress we are currently making. We will need much faster investment in health systems in the developing world, and especially we will need medicines which are genuinely affordable for middle income and developing countries, at prices which can be sustained long term. Universal access by 2010 has to mean universal access permanently after 2010.

One of the major barriers remains pricing, especially for the newer drugs. The Doha declaration reaffirmed the right of Governments to use the flexibilities of the TRIPS agreement to improve access to generic versions of drugs. Yet those flexibilities have yet to be used. Provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements, particularly those involving the US, threaten to restrict the access to generic drugs. We need to simplify the mechanisms for the production and export of the key drugs, and this must be one of the tasks for the next G8 summit.

The timescale for delivery on the 2010 target is short. If we are to live up to the commitments which were made then rapid movement on the availability of generic drugs is essential.

December 2006

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