France accuses U.S. of HIV drug 'blackmail'
U.N.: Orphan crisis pandemic's 'cruelest legacy'
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- France accused the United States of "blackmail" tactics to pressure poor countries into ceding rights to make cheap generic HIV drugs, while the AIDS Conference issued a stirring call Monday to get more medicine to millions of needy in the developing world.
"A vicious terrorist is out there. It is not Osama bin Laden, it is AIDS," Hollywood actor Richard Gere told the conference. "The biggest threat to our livelihood, our happiness is AIDS."
A U.S. official denied the French allegation as "nonsense," while conference delegates lamented World Health Organization figures that show only about 7 percent of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it.
"All of us with the power and responsibility to make a difference, can only hang our heads in shame," said Jim Kim, WHO's AIDS director. "We know what we need to do. We know prevention and treatment must be accelerated together."
Since the last AIDS conference in Barcelona in 2002 generated optimism about the availability of new antiretroviral drugs, 6 million people have died of AIDS and 10 million people have become newly infected.
"By these measures of human life, the ones that really matter, we have failed. And we have failed miserably to do enough in the precious time that has passed since Barcelona," Kim said.
The number of people on treatment has doubled in the developing world to 440,000. U.N. officials hope to treat 3 million people there by 2005.
Cost of the drugs is a key issue. European and U.S. pharmaceutical giants make most of them, protected by patents and costing as much as $5,000 per person per year.
Some developing countries such as Thailand, India and Brazil are making cheap generic drugs but not enough to reach everybody. Some 38 million people are infected with HIV, mostly in poor countries: 25 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 7.2 million in Asia.
French officials accused the United States of pressuring poor countries to relinquish rights to make the generic drugs in return for free-trade agreements. In a written statement to the conference, President Jacques Chirac called that tactic "tantamount to blackmail."
France's global ambassador on AIDS, Mireille Guigaz, said Chirac's comments were not aimed at creating new tensions with the United States but were "a question between the United States and developing countries."
"The United States wants to put pressure on developing countries who try to stand up for their own industries," Guigaz said. "This is a problem."
World Trade Organization rules give developing countries the flexibility to ignore foreign patents and produce copies of expensive drugs in times of health crises. All WTO members including the United States have signed an agreement to respect that clause.
But there is nothing to prevent a country from imposing patent restrictions in a bilateral trade agreement, such as the one Washington is negotiating with Thailand.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the French allegations "nonsense," and insisted that the trade agreements will be consistent with WTO rules that will allow poor countries to make generic drugs. "There really is no issue," he said.
Chirac also called on rich nations to raise donations to the 2 1/2-year-old U.N. Global Fund -- aimed primarily at fighting AIDS -- by $3 billion per year. Wealthy countries have committed only a fifth of the $3.5 billion the fund needs for next year, U.N. officials said.
Protesters demand more funding from G-8
A group of African protesters interrupted a French minister delivering Chirac's message to demand more AIDS funding from developed G-8 countries.
"Shame! Shame!" they chanted in harmony for nearly a minute. Activists at the venue also have splashed red paint on posters of the G-8 leaders.
Gere is among several celebrities -- also including actress Ashley Judd and senior African statesman Nelson Mandela -- at the 15th conference, which draws a mix of science and activism.
At the heart of the AIDS debate is how to control the spread of the virus.
Scientists and policy-makers at the venue have touted condoms as a trusted weapon in the effort, dismissing U.S. President George W. Bush's policy of abstinence as a setback in global efforts to control the pandemic.
Proponents say there is no better way to prevent HIV than by using condoms and giving clean syringes to intravenous drug users. Their philosophy is known as CNN, or Condoms, Needles, Negotiating Skills.
The Bush administration maintains that emphasizing condoms promotes promiscuity among the youth, and pushes a policy known as ABC -- Abstinence, Being Faithful and Condoms, in that order of priority.
Report: AIDS orphans number 15 million
More than 3 million children in the world lost one or both parents to AIDS between 2001 and 2003 but governments have largely overlooked the plight of these orphans, U.N. and U.S. officials said Tuesday.
A focus on treatment and prevention of HIV in adults has left an "enormous gap" in funding for children orphaned by AIDS, who totaled 15 million worldwide by 2003, according to a report released by U.N. and U.S. agencies.
The report defines orphans as children under 18 who lost at least one parent.
The disease has hit children hardest in sub-Saharan Africa, which by 2010 could have as many as 17 million children who have lost at least one parent to AIDS, according to the report. (Full story)
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
