PHA-Exchange> Letter: UN Special Envoys on AIDS to India

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Dear Colleagues;

Please find below a copy of the two-page letter
sent by the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pa-
cific, Dr. Nafis Sadik, and the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in
Africa, Stephen Lewis, to their Excellencies the Prime Minister
and the President of India.

Regards,

Christina Magill
Executive Assistant to Stephen Lewis
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
mailto:clmagill at shaw.ca

*********************

New York, 11 March 2005

The Honourable Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India South
Block, Raisina Hall New Delhi, 110 001, India

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam President of India Rash-
trapati Bhawan New Delhi 110 004, India

Excellencies,

We are writing to you, in our capacities as the United Nations'
Special Envoys for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, and in Af-
rica, on a matter of urgent importance. We believe that enlight-
ened decisions by the Indian Parliament over the next several
days can offer the protections needed to prolong millions of
lives, and maintain India's leading role as a supplier of af-
fordable medicines to the developing world.

As a reflection of our deep concern, we should note that this is
the first time that the two of us have ever collaborated on such
an appeal.

India's role in addressing the global AIDS pandemic has been
crucial. Your Government's long history of ensuring the primacy
of public health over intellectual property set the stage for
principled positions and legislation promoting access to essen-
tial HIV medicines. As a result, the lives of HIV-positive peo-
ple throughout the developing world are now being sustained by
quality generic drugs.

Continued access to affordable antiretrovirals and other HIV-
related medicines promises to prolong millions more lives in the
immediate future. We are deeply concerned that, following the 1
January 2005 full implementation deadline for the TRIPS Agree-
ment, those lives are now in jeopardy.

As you know, Excellencies, the Indian Parliament's current dis-
cussion of the President's Patent Ordinance will determine the
scope of India's patent protection for the future. Approximately
one-half of the 700,000 people currently receiving HIV treatment
in developing countries depend on India's pharmaceutical manu-
facturers. Because international efforts are underway to multi-
ply the number of people on treatment many times over, the out-
come of Parliament's discussions will also decide the futures of
millions of people worldwide.

We are truly at a turning point in our response to the pandemic
of HIV/AIDS. The goal of putting three million people into
treatment by the end of this year has prompted a reservoir of
hope. But for that hope to be fulfilled, generic drugs must be
available. People Living With AIDS stand poised between life and
death. The Parliament of India can make it possible for millions
of people to embrace life.

Excellencies, we urge that every flexibility offered by the
TRIPS Agreement be incorporated in the President's Patent Ordi-
nance and that no "TRIPS-plus" provisions are included which
would jeopardize the continued supply of crucial, affordable
AIDS therapies and other essential medicines by India to the
world. It is not possible to exaggerate the international impor-
tance of the decisions facing India.

It is our fervent hope that amendments to the 1970 Patent Act
will be made in the praiseworthy spirit that characterized In-
dia's courageous leadership during negotiations of the World
Trade Organization's Uruguay Round and the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health.

Accept, Excellencies, the assurances of our highest considera-
tion.

Nafis Sadik, M.D.
Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in Asia
and the Pacific

Stephen Lewis
Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in Africa


cc: The Hon. Kamal Nath, Minister of Industry and Commerce Min-
istry of External Affairs, South Block Raisina Hall, New Delhi
110 001, India

Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Indian National Congress Party Chairman 10,
Janpath, New Delhi 119 001, India
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