The Hindu : International : France slams U.S. policy on HIV drugs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 14, 2004

International

International

France slams U.S. policy on HIV drugs

BANGKOK, JULY 13. France accused the U.S. of `blackmail' tactics to pressure poor countries into ceding rights to make cheap generic HIV drugs, while the AIDS Conference issued a stirring call on Tuesday to get more medicine to millions of needy in the developing world.

``The biggest threat to our livelihood, our happiness is AIDS,'' Hollywood actor Richard Gere told the conference. ``A vicious terrorist is out there. It is not Osama bin Laden, it is AIDS.''

A U.S. official termed the French allegation as `nonsense,' while conference delegates lamented the World Health Organization figures that show only about 7 per cent of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it.

``All of us with the power and responsibility to make a difference, can only hang our heads in shame,'' said Jim Kim, WHO's AIDS director told a plenary session of the conference running through Friday. ``We know prevention and treatment must be accelerated together.''

Since the last AIDS conference in Barcelona in 2002 generated optimism about the availability of new antiretroviral drugs, 6 million people have died of AIDS and 10 million people have become newly infected. ``By these measures of human life, the ones that really matter, we have failed. And we have failed miserably to do enough in the precious time that has passed since Barcelona,'' Mr. Kim said.

The number of people on treatment has doubled in the developing world to 440,000. U.N. officials hope to treat 3 million people there by 2005.

Cost is a key issue. European and U.S. pharmaceutical giants make most of the drugs, which are protected by patents and cost as much as $5,000 per person per year.

Some developing countries such as Thailand, India and Brazil are making cheap generic drugs but not enough to reach everybody.

Some 38 million people are infected with HIV, mostly in poor countries: 25 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 7.2 million in Asia.

French officials accused the U.S. of pressuring poor countries to give up their rights to make cheap generic HIV drugs in return for free-trade agreements. In a written statement to the conference, the French President, Jacques Chirac, called the tactic ``tantamount to blackmail.''

France's global ambassador on AIDS, Mireille Guigaz, said Mr. Chirac's comments were not aimed at creating new tensions with the U.S. but were ``a question between the United States and developing countries.'' ``The United States wants to put pressure on developing countries who try to stand up for their own industries,'' Guigaz said.

``This is a problem.'' — AP

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