Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign

[Guest guest]

Dear forum members,

We take this opportunity to very belatedly congratulate AIDS DESK, CreNIEO and

NCA who have launched the 'HIV/AIDS care and Treatment Campaign' in Tamil Nadu

on 10 September 2002 (as informed to this email group by Ulaganathan Irudayasamy

on 23 September 2002).

Also, in response to Sumathi's email dated 13 September 2002, on this list

regarding the high price of ART, we are glad to inform you about a similar

campaign launched in Mumbai in 2001.

Some of you might be aware of the Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign

(AMTC). For those who do not know about the campaign, here is some information

on the same.

AMTC is an initiative of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit and several other

NGOs and individuals in India. It aims to demand and create an environment that

will ensure sustained accessibility and affordability of medicines and treatment

for every individual in India, including access to affordable ART for PLWHA.

To help you get a better idea of the objectives and aspirations of AMTC,

following is the mission statement of the same.

" The right to life and health is a fundamental right guaranteed to every person

living in India and is non-negotiable. This campaign aims to demand and create

an environment that will ensure sustained accessibility and affordability of

medicines and treatment for every individual in India, including access to

affordable Anti-Retroviral Therapy for persons living with HIV/AIDS. This

campaign shall be democratic and participatory. It will seek the mobilization of

communities and civil society to make state, national and international agency

and industry accountable for securing health for all. "

We need to act immediately and forcefully on these issues for two reasons.

Firstly, ARV therapy in India although much more affordable in the last 2 years

still remains out of reach for most Indians. It is vital that the Government of

India subsidies ART for PLWHA in India as part of their right to health and

life. It has been seen that the provision of ART in other countries has not only

indefinitely prolonged life but has drastically reduced viral load and even

stigma, thereby contributing to the effort to control the spread of HIV.

Secondly, patent laws in our country will change from 31 December 2004 in light

of the new international rules that are in the Agreement on Trade Related

Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). India signed TRIPS as a member

of the World Trade Organisation in 1994. This will have unfathomable and far

reaching impact on the prices of new medicines in the future which will not only

affect affordability and accessibility for PLWHA but also for others in India.

It is about time all of us concerned with the issue of HIV/AIDS in particular

and public health in general unite and set our minds to a consolidated protest

and campaign against highly priced ART and TRIPS. AMTC hopes that all interested

in these issues will do what they can in their respective areas to raise them

and join the campaign. It looks forward to forming alliances on these issues.

A part of AMTC is the National Signature Campaign for Affordable Medicines,

which gives a forum to the common person to voice his/her concerns regarding the

rising drug prices and endorse his/her protest against the same. The signature

campaign demands that health care and medicines be provided under our

fundamental right to life and health. With the cooperation of several NGOs

around India AMTC has already collected about 3500 signatures from people in

different states in India. We plan to forward the same to the Law Ministry, the

Health Ministry and the Joint Committee set up to Examine the Bill to Amend the

Patents Act.

We look forward to all of you joining hands with us in taking this campaign

forward, in asserting our fundamental right to health and pressing the

government to fulfill its duty to provide ART to all PLWHA in our country and to

take a firm stand against the TRIPS regime.

There is much information that the campaign has at its disposal including the

signature campaign form, AMTC leaflets in Hindi, Marathi and English and slide

presentations providing information on TRIPS etc. if you are interested in

knowing more or receiving this material please write to aidslaw@... for the

same.

AMTC also has an email group access2medicines , which you may

subscribe to by writing to us at aidslaw@....

Following is the list of those who have joined AMTC

1.. Maharashtra Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (MNP+) - Mumbai

2.. Swayam Siddha Sangathana - Mumbai

3.. India Network of Positive People (INP+) - Chennai

4.. Freedom Foundation - Bangalore

5.. Chitra Narayan (Advocate) - Chennai

6.. Population Services International - Mumbai

7.. Dr. Bitra - New Delhi

8.. FIRM - Trivandrum

9.. Dr. Maninder Sethia - Mumbai

10.. Dr. Nagesh Shirgoppikar - Mumbai

11.. Dr. Togukha Yepthomi - Chennai

12.. Dr. V.J. Anand - Delhi

13.. Manipur Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS - Manipur

14.. Alternative Law Forum - Bangalore

15.. Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) - Delhi

16.. Positive People Goa

17.. Karnataka Network of Positive People (KNP+) - Bangalore

18.. Focus on Global South India Programme - Mumbai

19.. Care Foundation - Manipur

20.. Samraksha - Banglaore

21.. Naz Foundation India - Delhi

22.. Salvation Army - Mumbai

23.. Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit - Mumbai and Delhi

24.. DD - Mumbai

25.. Network of Maharashtra Positive People - Mumbai

Although AMTC was formally launched at a press conference in New Delhi and

Mumbai on World AIDS Day 2001, it has not seen any sustained activity, which is

the job of every member to initiate and take forward. We look forward to others

joining in and contributing to active public discourse and advocacy in issues

dealt with by AMTC.

We also welcome any suggestions/comments on the issue of taking the campaign

forward. You can reach us at any of the following addresses.

Mumbai

Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign

7/10, Botawala Building,

2nd Floor

Fort, Mumbai 400 023

Or

Delhi

Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign

63/2 Masjid Road, Jangpura,

New Delhi 110014

Or

Bangalore

Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign

17/1 Road

Benson Town

Bangalore 41

Yours truly,

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

For Affordable Treatment and Medicines Campaign

E-mail: <aidslaw@...>

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