Posted FYI & FYA (For Your Action):

World AIDS Day 2010:
An open letter to Canada’s Members of Parliament
December 1, 2010

Dear Member of Parliament,

On World AIDS Day, we are writing to ask you to place people before
politics and support an initiative that will make a tangible
difference in the lives of people in developing countries.

Last week, the United Nations released its annual report on the state
of the global AIDS epidemic. It highlights both that significant
progress can be and has been made in confronting the epidemic. Yet
the disease continues to have devastating consequences for tens of
millions of people around the world. Consider that in 2009 there
were:

> 33.3 million people living with HIV – almost equivalent to the
population of Canada;
> 2.6 million people newly infected with HIV – 7000 a day;
> 1.8 million people who died of AIDS, including 260,000 children; and
> 97% of people who died from AIDS were in low- and middle-income
countries.

They die not because life-saving medicines do not exist. They die
because these medicines aren’t available to them and to their
countries, at prices they can afford, because of limited budgets and
overwhelming needs. They die because they are too poor to buy the
medicines that those of us in wealthy countries such as Canada so
often take for granted. Those medicines have meant deaths from AIDS
have dropped dramatically in the last decade. With effective
treatment, people with HIV are living, working, studying and being
active members of their communities.

But in the developing world, 14.6 million people with HIV need
treatment under international guidelines from the World Health
Organization, and only 5.2 million – or 36% of those in need –
are receiving it. For children with HIV, access to treatment is even
worse. In sub-Saharan Africa, roughly half of all children born with
HIV will die before reaching their second birthday because they don’t
have access to medicines.

The fact is these deaths are preventable and Canada can help prevent
them – if there is the political will to help make medicines
available to those in need, including by fixing Canada’s
broken Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) to supply generic medicines
at more affordable prices.

Competition by generic manufacturers in the global marketplace has
been the single most important factor driving down the prices of
medicines to bring them within reach. Indeed, without access to
low-cost generic medicines, the tremendous success in recent years of
quickly and dramatically scaling up the number of people receiving
life-saving AIDS drugs would not have been possible. Yet even as we
are seeing the results of globally scaling up access to affordable
generics, this progress is now being jeopardized. Global funding to
prevent and treat AIDS, and to strengthen health systems, is being
flat-lined. Meanwhile, there are growing challenges to the future
supply of affordable generic medicines for developing countries.
These
make it all the more important that all countries with the capacity to
produce such medicines, including Canada, act to make this simple and
straightforward. The question is whether the political will exists in
Parliament to make affordable generics available to those in need in
the developing world. In 2004, Parliament unanimously passed
legislation creating Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR), with
this laudable goal. But it has failed: in more than six years, it has
resulted in only one licence being issued to
authorize the export of one order of only one AIDS drug to one country
(Rwanda).

Bill C-393, as supported by members of all parties at second reading,
is intended to reform CAMR by creating the “one-licence solution”,
reducing red tape and making it easier for developing countries and
generic manufacturers to utilize it. Detailed arguments in favour of
this approach by international legal and health experts can be
reviewed at www.aidslaw.ca/camr.

The goal of CAMR reform, and specifically the proposed “one license
solution” approach, has been endorsed by dozens of Canadian civil
society organizations with direct experience working with people with
AIDS in developing countries. It also has the support of more than 80%
of Canadians according to a national poll, as well as a growing list
of prominent individuals including former Prime Minister Paul Martin,
former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario James Bartleman, former UN
Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, past
International President of Médecins Sans Frontières Dr. James
Orbinski, former Members of Parliament, leading researchers, faith
leaders, artists and numerous members of the Order of Canada.

Bill C-393 – in its original form, before significant changes
weakening the bill were passed at the committee stage – has the power
to make a significant contribution in the fight against AIDS and
other public problems. It meets all of Canada’s international legal
obligations, including under WTO rules. It is fair to both generic
and brand-name pharmaceutical companies. And it won’t cost Canadian
taxpayers a penny.

There are three ways you can make a difference to people living with
AIDS right now:
1. Commit to voting to restore the “one-licence” solution to Bill
C-393 when it comes up for debate at report stage.
2. Consent to transferring sponsorship of Bill C-393 from former MP
Judy Wasylycia-Leis to MP Brian Masse.
3. Vote for a Bill C-393 that includes the one-licence solution when
it comes up for a final vote at third reading.

Now is the time to act. By supporting CAMR reform you will be keeping
Canada’s promise to the developing world. You will be directly
responsible for saving lives. People in the developing world,
including hundreds of thousands of children with HIV and other
illnesses, have waited long enough for Canada to fulfill its promise.
They don’t have time to wait any longer.

Sincerely,

Gerry Barr, President-CEO, Canadian Council for International
Co-operation
Andrea Beal and Kathleen Wallace-Deering, Co-Chairs, National Advocacy
Committee of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign
Louise Binder, Chair, Canadian Treatment Action Council
David Cox, Executive Director, CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network
Chris Dendys, Executive Director, RESULTS Canada
Monique Doolittle-Romas, Executive Director, Canadian AIDS Society
Laurie Edmiston, Executive Director, Canadian AIDS Treatment
Information Exchange
Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Robert Fox, Executive Director, Oxfam Canada
James Fraser, Executive Director, Dignitas International
Anne Gardner, Executive Director, Bracelet of Hope
Claire Holloway Wadhani, Executive Director, Canada Africa Partnership
on AIDS
Maija Kagis, Coordinator (Canada), People’s Health Movement
Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, President, Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines
Gervais L'Heureux, Directeur général, L’Association québécoise des
organismes de coopération internationale
Ken Monteith, Executive Director, COCQ-SIDA
Kim Moran, President and CEO, UNICEF Canada
David Morley, President & CEO, Save the Children Canada
Anne Russell, President, Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
Nicci Stein, Executive Director, Interagency Coalition on AIDS and
Development
Karen Takacs, Executive Director, Canadian Crossroads International
Elisse Zack, Executive Director, Canadian Working Group on HIV and
Rehabilitation
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----- forwarded by -----
**********************************************
Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus) Econ, York U.
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3
email: [log in to unmask]   Skype: slanfranco
blog:  http://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
Phone: 613 476-0429 cell: 416-816-2852
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