EYEWITNESS SOUTH AFRICA
Leaders condemn U.S. on HIV/AIDS drug policy
By Key
Martin
Durban, South Africa
A worldwide struggle is underway to win for the people of
South Africa the right to buy medicines to treat HIV/AIDS at
the lowest prices available. South African Communist Party and
African National Congress leaders explain below just how
important this struggle is.
The problem is the U.S. government. Washington has backed a
suit by the Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Association and 41
drug companies in the South African Constitutional Court. The
suit aims to block implementation of the Medicines and Related
Substances Act.
This Medicine Act uses provisions of World Trade
Organization procedures to license domestic generic production
of medicines. It also allows purchasers to import medicines
from third countries rather than buy from the patent holders
when discounts are available.
Pharmaceutical companies were given a lot of benefits by the
old apartheid regime to attract them to the country during the
years of the economic boycotts. They have a stranglehold on the
industry.
If this law helps South Africa meet the HIV/AIDS crisis, it
will open up a strategy for all of southern Africa. Already, in
Zimbabwe, the morgues are open 24 hours a day because of the
dramatic death toll from diseases brought on by AIDS.
The U.S. trade representative, however, has placed South
Africa on a "watchlist" and withheld trade benefits for some
South African products, charging "piracy" of "intellectual
property rights," a process that could lead to an even bigger
economic blockade.
Years have already been lost to corporate greed in the fight
against AIDS in Africa and thousands have died. According to
Umsebenzi, a publication of the South African Communist Party,
last year 3.5 million South Africans had HIV and 100,000 were
estimated to be dying each year. Protests are set this fall to
coincide with Health Action Coalition protests scheduled in the
U.S. in October.
SACP leader on AIDS
"One of the biggest threats that we face as a country, as a
region, as a continent, is the scourge of HIV/AIDS," said Blade
Nzimande, general secretary of the SACP. "One should not be
surprised at this because poor countries are unable to provide
some of the necessary tools to fight HIV, like education,
literacy and so on. What this also illustrates is the extent to
which the Western world seems to be turning a blind eye,
particularly to sub-Saharan Africa.
"The pharmaceutical companies are just not interested in
providing even some drugs that could assist in trying to
contain or prevent some aspects of the epidemic, like the
passing of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. The United States
government's behavior in this regard is shocking because it has
backed these pharmaceutical companies to the hilt, which
prevents us from finding mechanisms to deal with this and many
other problems and diseases because of the high costs of
medications.
"We are really pleased and appreciate the fact that our
comrades and other people have waged these high-profile
protests," Nzimande continued. "I think they are beginning to
make it felt because we hear now that even Vice President Al
Gore is trying quietly to plead with the ANC and the South
African government to assist in containing some of these
protests."
Vice President Al Gore has seen his campaign plagued by
protests by AIDS activists from ACT-UP and other organizations
exposing his links to the pharmaceutical companies and
demanding an end to the persecution of South Africa on this
issue.
How transnationals operate
ANC General Secretary Kgalema Motlante also commented on
this issue. "Today it's the pharmaceuticals, tomorrow it's
something else. The issue is really about how transnationals
operate in essentially Third World countries.
"The `pharmaceuticals' issue now is typical of the manner of
operation of most transnational [corporations]. They tend to
dictate, use their power, to give prices, to determine and load
terms of trade in their favor regardless of the consequences to
those they are doing trade with.
"And in the case of these pharmaceuticals, the South African
approach, the ANC's approach to issues of health is to have a
national primary health system, where you lay emphasis on
prevention. This requires lots of education, lots of generic
medicine, which can be affordable and therefore accessible to
poor communities.
"The pharmaceuticals are driven to maximize profits and
therefore want to control the supply side of things to a point
where they can fetch higher prices. Yet from an affordability
point of view, this control would actually exclude the majority
of people who deserve such medicines. When they deal with Third
World countries, even given what they normally describe as
`market forces' doesn't apply. They set prices because they
determine the terms of trade."
Motlante continued, "Those people in the United States who
are protesting against these pharmaceutical companies are
engaged in one of the noblest struggles to save humanity. No
one should be left off the hook so far as this is concerned. We
should intensify those protests in order ultimately to get the
pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. government to back
off."
After reading U.S. documents on this question and observing
the blackmail the U.S. is trying to impose on South Africa,
"one can only really come to one conclusion: these
multinational companies have no interests of the people at
heart. Instead they want to make profits, even to make profits
off of the people who are dying, who are threatened with a
disease like HIV/AIDS."
The quotes are from a series of interviews conducted by
Johnnie Stevens, Elena Peckham, Tamara Martin and Key Martin
for the Peoples Video Network.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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