HIV and AIDS: Trade unions press for rights-based approach to combat pandemic

International trade union movement is calling for governments to push ahead with a rights-based approach to tackling the HIV and AIDS pandemic, following the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna at the end of July. “While there are some positive signs concerning HIV and AIDS prevalence in some countries, millions of HIV-positive people have no access to treatment, millions more are at high risk of infection and there are disturbing signs of increasing incidence in several countries. We have to overcome the stigma and discrimination which are still common around the globe, and allocate sufficient resources to stop the spread of the virus and ensure that treatment is available to all those affected. We are especially concerned that the global economic crisis, and cuts to public expenditure on health in particular could undermine the progress which has been made,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

Stressing the importance of action at the workplace in fighting the pandemic, the trade union delegation at the Vienna Conference highlighted the adoption of a Recommendation on HIV-AIDS and the World of Work by the ILO at its June Conference this year. The ILO Recommendation, the first ever international human rights instrument to focus explicitly on HIV and AIDS and the world of work, was adopted by an overwhelming majority of ILO delegates. It clearly establishes the importance of action at the workplace, including voluntary testing and counselling protection against discrimination, and focuses on the need for engagement with those most vulnerable and at risk.

Trade union participants from the ITUC, Global Union Federations and national representatives from across the world, including Argentina, Cameroon, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, the UK, Ukraine and Zimbabwe joined the ITUC’s Austrian affiliate the OeGB which hosted the trade union delegation to the Vienna Conference, which was attended by more than 20,000 participants in total.

For further information:
* Global Unions AIDS Programme (GUAP), Statement to the Vienna AIDS Conference

Tribute to Nelson Mandela (video)

New health initiative to bolster G8 promises

When Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, will announce details of the new International Health Partnership initiative later this week, he will have the backing of relevant non-governmental organisations. The programme has already presented during Angela Merkel’s, visit to London on 22 August. The plans for an International Health Partnership are part of a global campaign on health and are designed to co-ordinate international funding for health systems in poor countries. It will bring together major donor countries together with international agencies like the World Bank and World Health Organisation (WHO).



In a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following bilateral talks in Downing Street, Gordon Brown said that addressing healthcare and aid provision was now a "development emergency". The new Partnership, which will launch formally on 5 September, will drive forward work on Millennium Development Goals involving the reduction of child and maternal mortality and the tackling of specific diseases such as HIV/AIDS (see video).

Alison Woodhead, head of Oxfam's international campaign for health and education, said on 22 August, "This is a great initiative that deserves widespread international support. Brown and Merkel should be congratulated for following through on their G8 promises to improve health care. The challenge for them now is to make sure other countries get on board to ensure maximum impact. There are women, men and children in developing countries who are dying because they don't have access to healthcare or any doctors or nurses to attend to them. This Partnership could literally save lives, by coordinating investment in healthcare that is free, public, and well staffed."

Indian ruling against Novartis: Victory for public health

This week’s verdict by an Indian court against the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is an important victory for global public health, according to aid agencies CARE International and Oxfam International, and the church-based advocacy network, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. The decision will protect India’s special role as the world’s leading provider of affordable medicines to the poor. The agencies welcome Novartis’s response that it is unlikely to appeal the ruling. Novartis had challenged a law that allows India to refuse a patent for an existing medicine when it had been modified only slightly.

Novartis and the pharmaceutical industry have been given a clear message to respect developing countries’ legal right to use the World Trade Organization TRIPS (trade-related intellectual property) safeguards to strike the right balance between protecting public health and intellectual property, the agencies said. The right of all WTO members to use the flexibilities and safeguards in the TRIPS Agreement to promote “access to medicines for all” was confirmed in 2001 (the Doha Declaration). Since then, however, rich countries and big pharmaceutical companies have sought to prevent or limit their use by developing countries, endangering the well-being of poor patients everywhere.

India – known as the ‘pharmacy of the developing world’ due to its massive generic drug production industry – supplies most of the world’s affordable generics to developing countries where patented medicines are priced out of most people’s reach. More than two-thirds of generic medicines exported from India are sold in developing countries at a fraction of the cost of patented brand medicines.

This week’s ruling comes at a time when patentability criteria are under examination in other countries as well, for instance the United States. Recognizing that patentability criteria which lead to the granting of frivolous patents can hinder innovation and access to new products rather than promote it, the US Supreme Court has recently ruled in favour of stricter criteria. – The provision in Indian law under challenge by Novartis constitutes an important public health safeguard in TRIPS. Developing countries should be commended for using this and other safeguards to promote access to affordable medicines for their populations. Recent examples include the issuance of compulsory licenses by Brazil and Thailand, and the introduction of a new, pro-health intellectual property law in the Philippines.