PHA-Exchange> 'Access for All - to Everything, Everywhere', Demands People's Charter on HIV/AIDS....... URGENT--- AIDS conference Bangkok - Press Release 13th July 2004 (People's Health Movement)

Tue Jul 13 17:53:57 PDT 2004

Press Release- 13th July 2004 : People's Health Movement  
AIDS conference Bangkok - 

For media enquiries: Call Thailand:  04701 0714 or   050 181 581  or  095 134 924   (Call +66 4701 0714 from abroad)                                                        

'Access for All - to Everything, Everywhere',
Demands People's Charter on HIV/AIDS.
________________________________________________________________________
"Access a basic human right," says former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Bangkok 13th July 2004: "People living with HIV/AIDS need access to not just medicines, but food, shelter, jobs and other basic human rights," says People's Charter on HIV/ AIDS, an initiative of the People's Health Movement (PHM).

PHM is an international coalition of grassroots movements and health professionals that has a presence in nearly 100 countries.  

While the world's response to HIV/AIDS is currently defined by politics, profits and patents, the People's Charter on HIV/ AIDS calls for actions that put people first. 

"HIV/AIDS is a global development emergency that requires governments and other agencies to make an all-out response," said Mary Sandasi from Zimbabwe, a PHM delegate to the XV International AIDS Conference being held at Bangkok, from 11th to 16th July 2004. "But there seems to be no sense of urgency."

PHM is launching the People's Charter on HIV/ AIDS at the Bangkok conference. 

This HIV/AIDS charter calls for people's action and governmental as well as international initiatives to commit enough resources NOW.

"The charter is an amplifier of people's voices," said Dr Unnikrishnan PV, a spokesperson for the People's Health Movement and ActionAid International. "This is an SOS call for urgent action," he said. 

"'People living with HIV/AIDS have no access to the basic living resources. That is the real problem," said Dr Delen de La Paz from Philippines. "Over 95 percent of them live in developing countries, and it is high time world shared its resources."

There are over 38 million people worldwide infected with HIV, 25 million of them in Sub-Saharan Africa.                      

"The clout of multinational drug companies over the survival of those affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a clear indicator that the world needs radical changes," the HIV/ AIDS charter argues. 

"Access to treatment is a basic human right" said Mary Robinson former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights while speaking at the conference on Monday. 

The HIV/ AIDS Charter recognizes the 'killer effects' of neo-liberal economic policies and free trade agreements pushed by the World Bank and World Trade Organizations and rich countries, especially the USA. 

The HIV/AIDS charter calls for people-based action, including legal measures to challenge the exorbitant drug prices brought about by trade agreements in direct violation of the fundamental human right to life. It questions high drug prices and cuts in public health budgets. It criticizes the global military expenditure that has crossed US $ 960 billion.

The HIV/ AIDS Charter demands that HIV/ AIDS be placed at the centre of primary health care activities and calls for radical, pro-people reforms in the approach of governments as well as UN institutions like WHO and UNAIDS.  

"The acid test of WHO's 3 X 5 initiative is in its ability to strengthen primary health care systems," said Dr Thelma Narayan from India. Through 3 X 5 initiative, WHO promises Anti-Retroviral Treatment for 3 million people in developing countries by 2005.  

The HIV/ AIDS Charter has been developed through discussions and debates at various levels - local village gatherings to international forums. Various constituencies are extending their solidarity. They include positive peoples' networks, village health workers, women's groups, human rights activists, medical professionals, trade unionists and campaigners working for better access to health care and medicines. 

The HIV/ AIDS Charter is also supported by various international agencies including ActionAid International, Italian Raoul Follereau Association (AIFO), Italy, WEMOS, MEDACT, Equinet (South Africa), Global Equity Gauge Alliance, Churches Action for Health, Health Action International and National Front in Defense of People's Health, Ecuador.

"The lives that have been lost in Africa should not go as waste. Asia, Latin America and rest of the world should learn from these costly lessons" says the People's Charter on HIV/ AIDS. 

For media enquiries, please call:

During the conference:Thailand:  04701 0714 or   050 181 581  or  095 134 924                                                                 

(For PHM media enquiries, please call: +91 98450 91319)

Global Secretariat:  CHC, # 367, Jakkasandra 1st Main, 1st Block, Koramangala,

Bangalore - 560 034 India.     Tel.: 91-80-5128 0009 / Telefax: 91-80-552 53 72

E-mail: secretariat at phmovement.org Website: http://www.phmovement.org

                        Networks
      Asian Community Health Action Network (ACHAN); Consumers International-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (CIROAP); Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF); Gonoshasthaya Kendra, (GK);  Health Action International (HAI) - Asia-Pacific - HAIAP; International People's Health Council (IPHC); Third World Network (TWN); Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)
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