UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa: "The World is Facing an Apocalypse and the Int'l Community Response is Abysmal"
STEPHEN LEWIS: You know, there's been a fascinating shift there because in truth the major brand name pharmaceutical companies are no longer key to the equation as they once used to be. We have moved dramatically toward the use of generic drugs which are purchased from Indian pharmaceutical companies, two in particular – one called Sipla, one called Ranbaxy. Thanks to the Clinton Foundation initiative, the price that has now been negotiated – this is quite incredible – is under $150 per person per year. So, if the western world delivered on the financial promises it perpetually makes and then refuses to acknowledge, we would be able to provide free treatment for everyone who needed it. And there is a target now. The World Health Organization wants to put three million people into treatment by the end of the year 2005. They call it the three by five initiative. It is visionary and important.
AMY GOODMAN: President Bush’s $15 billion plan prioritizes abstinence-based AIDS prevention. Only a small percentage of the money will go to the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS. The U.S. supports the so-called ABC prevention technique, which stands for “abstain, be faithful or use a condom.” Critics say condoms shouldn't be a last resort because women around the world often don’t have the option of abstinence.
STEPHEN LEWIS: Women in marriage certainly don't have the option. In marriage abstinence neither desirable nor possible. Being faithful is an assumption you make, and wearing a condom can’t be imposed on a man who so often is many years older than the young woman who has been married, because early marriage is product of gender inequality. So the ABC formula is clearly not applicable to married situations in many instances. Amy, one of the astonishing things which has emerged in the last couple of years through studies is that one of the highest risk environments for women in Africa is to be married. The levels of prevalence among sexually active young women outside of marriage are lower than the prevalence rates of HIV within marriage. So, a whole new approach has to be made to the matter of prevention and how you enhance this ABC formula. The Bush administration’s emphasis on abstinence and it’s in the preventive part of the Bush money, does worry a lot of people because, while it has some application obviously, it doesn't have exclusive or total application, and to overemphasize it at the expense of condoms or other intervention seems foolhardy. In addition to that, the amount of money which is going to the Global Fund from the United States, and the Global Fund is really the best multilateral financial agency that has emerged in years, and yet the American contribution at the moment is somewhere between $200 million a year, which is the Bush administration's request, Congress bumps it up, this year they bumped it up to $350 million, that is very much less than it was last year. Everybody hoped that of the $3 billion a year, the administration would allow $1 billion to go to the Global Fund. It’s terrible setback for the Global Fund that the United States has decided to diminish the contribution.
STEPHEN LEWIS: Well, the assumption, I think is – I’m going to be cautious when I reply because I don't want to self-immolate on Pacifica Radio and television. But I think generally the feeling is that the Christian Right has influenced the abstinence policy very, very strongly and there is some apprehension about that. And ideologically there is obviously a resistance to multilateralism. Obviously the United Nations is not in great favor. Obviously, organizations that work in many countries ... the Bush plan – we haven’t said this yet, but it’s worth saying -- is confined to 15 countries, only 12 of which are in Africa. Which means some very high prevalence countries desperately in need of money are not included – Swaziland, Lisutu, Malawi – they’re not included. The Global Fund is dealing in over 120 countries, Amy. It’s much, much more widespread.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/01/1535228
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