Trade and AIDS: an unhealthy collaboration

Members of the Civil Society Task Force preparing for the 2006 UN General Assembly Review of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. Photo: T. Abraham/CWS

May 1 , 2006

The U.S. is pursuing trade agreements that limit the capacity of resource-poor countries to produce safe, generic versions of the drugs needed to respond to public health crises such as HIV/AIDS. In these countries, medicines needed to treat these diseases are priced out of reach of most families. High prices are propped up with patent and related protections that the U.S. is augmenting with trade frameworks such as the recently concluded US-Peru Free Trade Agreement.

While it was still under negotiation, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health expressed concern that the agreement would “water down internationally agreed health standards, leading to higher prices for essential drugs that millions of Peruvians would find unaffordable.”

From May 31 to June 2, 2006, UN member states will review their progress in meeting commitments made five years ago to turn back the tide of HIV and AIDS. The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) is helping bring the voice of the faith community to civil society groups preparing for the 2006 AIDS Summit. Church World Service is a founding member of EAA. In 2003, CWS supported an international poster competition organized by EAA to mobilize churches in challenging the stigma and discrimination often associated with HIV and AIDS. Keep the promise (www.e-alliance.ch/hiv_curriculum.jsp) , a teaching resource on HIV and AIDS is available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Through its Education & Advocacy Program, CWS also works with EAA on trade justice. International trade frameworks which safeguard intellectual property rights in favor of pharmaceutical companies based in the US and Europe put affordable medicines out of the reach of those who most need them.

In a sign that the Bush administration's free trade agenda may be unraveling, the South African Customs Union recently refused to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North-South issues. In an interview with the Spring 2006 issue of the E&A newsletter Weave Anew (PDF file, 694 kb), Third World Network’s Sangeeta Shashikant spoke about recent moves by the World Trade Organization, the US and other developed countries to block access to affordable medicines. The interview is available on page 7 of the newsletter.