Across the Atlantic Ocean there is a plague. Some may argue that is it not preventable, but it is. The plague that is in question here is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and it has hit Africa by storm. It is estimated that there are “4 to 5 million people who have tuberculosis are co infected with [Human Immunodeficiency Virus] HIV. ” (Columbia Encyclopedia) The world communities have turned their backs on many African nations in their time of need. The lack of political will on the part of western governments along side the incredible greed of the pharmaceutical industry, have resulted in needed drugs not getting to Africa, which has lead to the suffering and death of millions.
This issue will be addressed by looking at the impact that AIDS is having on African people; how the western governments have turned a blind eye to this issue and how the pharmaceutical industry has placed profits ahead of ethics. Solutions to this complex and treatable problem will also be offered. AIDS has devastated the African people. The death in many African nations is staggering. “Since the start of this pandemic to the end of 1999, some 14. 8 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have died” (Secure the Future p. 1).
As a result in the increased death rate, “schooling in suffering as enrolment rates drop, poor families remove their children from school, and teachers and support staff succumb to the epidemic. A cornerstone of development— education— is being undermined. ” (UNAIDS) South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland have been hit the hardest by the AIDS virus. For example, in Botswana a country with a population of only 1. 5 million people, 190,000 people are infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/AIDS. In these countries life expectancy is projected to drop from 61 years of age to 39.
Secure the Future p. 2) Currently all over the globe there are approximately 40 million people living with AIDS. A staggering 36 million of these people do not have access to the proper drugs and treatment they need. AIDS has now become the number one killer in Africa (Secure the Future). These numbers seem unrealistic, yet behind each number there is a name and behind each name there is a family who has a devastating story to tell. There are countless stories of women losing their children and babies becoming orphans as a result of this devastating disease. Zena Salum, a citizen of
Tanzania, lost her daughter and son in law to AIDS, and now her infected grandson is near death. (Aids in Africa) These heart wrenching stories are all too common to the people of Africa. It is now estimated that 95 percent of all HIV-positive orphans are African (Secure the Future p. 3) One of the major problems concerns itself with mother to child transmission. The economic implications are unbelievable. AIDS not only kills, it can also tear an entire nation apart. Just as it kills [a] parents’ hope for their children, AIDS cuts down people in their prime working years thus eliminating family wage earners.
It shreds household income as survivors try to support the sick” (Brooks p. C3). In South Africa, it is predicted to cost the nation one percent of its gross domestic product by 2005, and deplete three quarters of the nation’s health budget. (Secure the Future p. 2) The world knows what is going on, however little is being done to stop this epidemic. One of the major problems lies with the inaction of the western governments and other international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). In June 2001 the Canadian government passed Bill S-17 which extended a number of pharmaceutical patents from 17 o 20 years.
This legislation was introduced in order to comply with WTO rulings. (Drug Cost p. 1) The WTO held a forum on AIDS, where Canada was among the many rich nations “opposing a deal that would give poor countries access to cheaper generic drugs during a health crisis” (Drug Cost p. 2). Canada’s generic companies are prevented from manufacturing drugs under the patent protection laws. These same companies cannot even make drugs to ship to other countries for humanitarian reasons. (Drug Cost p. 2) The American government is no better, maybe even worse. The United States, in roportion to its wealth is “the stingiest donor among rich countries”.
Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA)) Consequently, millions of people die needlessly because they do not have access to the proper treatment and medications. Zackie Achmat, an anti-apartheid leader, who is HIV positive said: Just because we are poor, just because we are black, just because we live far from you, does not mean that our lives should be valued any less. (IPA) Glaxo Kline Smith, the largest producer of AIDS- related drugs, chaired a dinner which rose over $30 million sdollars for the Republican Party. (IPA) That being stated, one has to wonder how influential the drug companies are with the Bush administration.
Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa stated that: After September 11th, in a matter of months, the world raised over 100 billion dollars to fight the war on terrorism. In Africa last year, over 2 million people died of AIDS, and we have to grovel on our hands and knees, begging for pennies in response. There has never been a more outrageous moral lapse on the part of the rich nations all over the world. Why I ask you are African lives expendable while the war n terrorism is sacrosanct. (Lewis) It is quite apparent that governments have become subservient to huge multi- national corporations.
The WTO, who has been supporting pharmaceutical companies instead of the government is said to discriminate against the sick. They are legally responsible for not stopping this preventable disease, and seem to feel no remorse of guilt. The WTO has attempted to ban global exchange, which allows companies to import cheaper drugs from other countries. This practice could have horrific effects on many nations in Africa, making it extremely difficult for them to overcome the AIDS pidemic. (IRAFTA p. 1) Naomi Klein, a political activist and author, believes that globalization and free trade have played a large part in this epidemic.
Though this process is called globalization, it is actually an ideological belief system that holds that increased trade and investment, no matter what the immediate social cost will eventually lead to improved quality of life and environmental standards at home and around the world. According to this history, the role of the government is simply to pursue trade at all cost and the rest will take care of itself. (IRAFTA p. 1) Western governments and diversified economies all over the world can no longer continue to stay silent in the face of such injustice.
Governments must stand up to the large pharmaceutical industry and put policies in place that put lives before profit. The pharmaceutical industry is more concerned with protecting their intellectual property rights (profits) than releasing drugs on compassionate grounds to the African people. This industry is, by far, one of the most profitable industries in the world. The cases of AIDS are constantly on the rise, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same ime, the pharmaceutical industry is making it even more impossible for African nations to access the Antiretroviral (AVR) drugs.
These drugs have been on the market since 1996, but are too expensive for the African people to purchase. The pharmaceutical industry argues that allowing generic drugs on the market will “reduce pharmaceutical [company’s] incentives to do research and development”. (Aids in Africa) This is absurd because Africa accounts for only 13% of the world wide pharmaceutical market. (Aids in Africa) Another horrible action that these drug companies are trying to nforce is attempting to stop South Africa and other African nations from importing the cheaper version of the AIDS medications. (Institute South p. ) They do this by using the courts and international trade agreements to tie up the time and resources of African nations that challenge them.
This, in turn, diverts needed attention from their real problem; AIDS. With an appalling human tragedy unfolding in Africa, the multi national pharmaceutical industry has, in its South African lawsuit, decided to place its narrow propriety interests over life and death concerns of people with AIDS/HIV”. Brooks) The power of the multi national pharmaceutical industry is immense. They can unduly influence the foreign policy of industrialized nations.
Years ago it was colonization, the super power of England, the reeked havoc throughout the third world. Now it is multi national corporations whose economic imperialism pulls the strings on the international level. All of these companies are located in developed countries such as Canada and the United States. They do not see or care about what is going on outside of their borders. For the huge pharmaceutical companies such as Glaxo Smith Kline and Bristol-Myers Squibb, they see no need to help the dying people in Africa because there is simply no profit in it for them. Secure the Future)
These are unethical corporations that are making decisions about the future of the entire world. It is up to the citizens of the world to stand up and take action against the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and the inaction of the western industrialized nations to stop these profit hungry corporations. The AIDS epidemic is a complex problem, but with it comes solutions. First, the richer nations need to put their money where their mouths are.
Governments need to start giving much more foreign aid with a “no strings attached” policy. Governments in developing countries have to mobilize promised resources for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS” (IPA) As well, the World Health Organization (WHO) should assume some responsibility for this pandemic and create a patent pool for essential medications. This would pool health patents together and license then to low cost producers, in return for a royalty which would be paid to the pool and divided back to the patent holders. (IPA) Africa must have access to the drugs and treatments that are ecessary for them to win their battle against AIDS.
This means generic competition, and clear guidelines for pricing would be needed. The ARV drug instructions and requirements should be simplified, for example; to a one a day dose. On top of international aid, new policies must be created. Grass root community development projects have been implemented, particularly in those with a high rate of HIV infection. Changing behaviour by educating African communities to practice abstinence or safe sex is key in controlling the increased spread of AIDS. Some of these grass root rograms include; voluntary support counseling, HIV testing and mother to child prevention efforts.
These all play a large part in the solution. The foremost solution is prevention. “Young people are a vital factor in halting the spread if HIV/AIDS and many of then are playing a significant role in the fight against it. ” (UNICEF) There must be “appropriate political and institutional choices concerning not only paths that biomedical research has to follow but also a coherent global development strategy in which health, economic and social policies are meshed together. ” (International p. ) All of these solutions are crucial in the fight against AIDS.
However, if the global community remains indifferent to this plague, nothing will change. Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s Vice President says: The power to defeat the spread of HIV/AIDS lies in our partnership- as youth, as women, as men, as business people, as workers, as religious people, as parents and teachers, as students, as healers, as farmers, as the unemployed and the professional, as the rich and the poor- in fact all of us. (Secure the Future p. 3) The plague may be occurring many miles away but AIDS as we know is a isease that can affect anyone, no matter age, sex, race or nationality.
The world must become more aware, no one can afford to remain indifferent. If people all over the world stood up for the nations’ that have been plagued by AIDS, it would guarantee that this epidemic would be exterminated. The fight against AIDS is one that everyone, across the world, should be involved in. The absence of political will by western nations combined with the enormous greed of the pharmaceutical companies has led to needed drugs not reaching Africa. Consequently, millions of people in Africa are dying.
One must look at the direct implication this is having on the African people; how their cries have fallen on the deaf ears of many rich nations, and why the pharmaceutical companies put profits before lives. Finally, one must try to understand the solution to this complex problem. AIDS has ravaged the African people, and has been the holocaust of the twenty first century. However this epidemic is preventable. The whole world knows what is going on. It is time to take action and implement viable solutions that will aid Africans in rebuilding their nation.