------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 22, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- AS DRUG COMPANIES SUE: SOUTH AFRICA PROVIDES FREE AIDS MEDS TO MOTHERS By Elijah Crane On March 5, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association and 39 transnational pharmaceutical companies brought the South African government to court in Pretoria. The purpose of their case is to block a 1997 law passed in South Africa that would allow access to generic versions of AIDS medications cheaper than those produced by drug giants like Glaxo-SmithKline and Bristol Myers Squib. At the same time, AIDS activists in nine countries and five U.S. cities took to the streets for a Global Day of Action initiated by Global Treatment Access Campaign. Protesters demanded that the pharmaceutical giants immediately drop their racist lawsuit. In Pretoria, over a thousand people marched against the big drug companies. Dozens were arrested. More than 200 people marched in New York City, rallying at the local offices of pharmaceutical corporations. They chanted, "Pills cost pennies, greed costs lives!" Similar actions were held in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Berkeley and Boston. Nearly 20 percent of the adult population of South Africa is infected with AIDS--4.2 million people. More than 400,000 South Africans have died of AIDS-related illnesses. President Thabo Mbeki and the South African government are now considering declaring the AIDS epidemic a national state of emergency. This is a sure-fire way to gain full access to AIDS medications by importing or even producing generic versions of the "innovator" drugs. On March 8 an Indian pharmaceutical company, Cipla, requested a license from the South African government to import generic versions of eight anti-retrovirals and other AIDS drugs. Cipla is seeking non-exclusive licenses under South Africa's intellectual property laws on the grounds that the patent-holding manufacturers are abusing their copyright. Cipla previously offered to make the "Cameron cocktail" of stavudine, 3TC and nevirapine available for $350 a year to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders and $600 to governments in developing countries. Kenya is also introducing legislation to import generic AIDS drugs. Drug companies made sales of more than $315 billion in 2000. This is more than the gross domestic product of all 12 countries in the Southern African Development Community, according to the Global Treatment Access Campaign web site. And yet even under pressure from organizations and activists, the best offer pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Inc., have made is to sell the pills for $2 a day. But this is only part of the full cocktail required in a daily anti-HIV regimen. The total cost would still amount to almost $1,500 per year, per person at those rates--a staggering and unaffordable cost for most African people. While the media and pharmaceutical mega-corporations put forth a racist attack against President Mbeki, blaming him for the crisis, South Africa continues to make provisions to advance its health care system. The South African government has initiated a program to provide free anti-HIV medicine to pregnant women. The drug nevirapine helps prevent transmission of HIV from mother to baby. According to a Feb. 18 New York Times article, "United Nations officials say [South Africa] will run one of the largest anti-AIDS drug distribution programs in Africa." The remaining challenge is that while the rate of HIV infection will likely decrease in newborns as a result of preventing transmission during childbirth, mothers with HIV remain untreated and lack access to affordable medications. CUBA EXTENDS SOLIDARITY Among the many attacks on Africa is the claim that due to a lack of infrastructure Africa would not be able to distribute the anti-HIV medications even if they were more accessible. Yet Africa's underdevelopment is a result of centuries of colonial exploitation and imperialist plunder. Sub-Saharan Africa was carved up by Britain, France, Germany and Belgium and robbed of its rich natural resources while the U.S. stole its people for slavery. However, the people of Africa have a long history of struggle against imperialist invasion and domination. And as demonstrated by social programs such as those that provide free medicine to pregnant women, African leaders do not lack commitment in the fight against AIDS. While corporations from the richest countries in the world take the government of South Africa to court to block the delivery of medicine, doctors from the tiny socialist island of Cuba stand ready to help build the infrastructure to distribute the much-needed AIDS medications. In a speech in New York in September 2000, Fidel Castro said that Cuba is ready to send 2,000 doctors to Africa to help build its medical infrastructure. This is over and above the thousands of doctors that Cuba has already sent to Africa and the African doctors who have been trained in Cuba. Cuba provides this medical and humanitarian assistance to Africa as an act of solidarity, without any profit motive. This illustrates the very stark contrast between a capitalist and socialist approach to a public health emergency on a global scale. The U.S. ruling class has gotten rich off the stolen labor and resources of the African people. Imagine how much could be done to solve the AIDS crisis if the imperialists finally paid long-overdue reparations to Africa. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
