Global AIDS Week of Action

Global AIDS Week of Action

May 20-26 2007 New Delhi, INDIA

Universal Access to Treatment for All Campaign

Memorandum

Through this Memorandum, the Coalition of NGOs/CSOs working on HIV/AIDS and people living and or affected by HIV/AIDS set forth their mutual intention, concern and fears to advocate to strengthen the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to accelerate country progress towards Universal Access.

India was one of the principal countries along with other 189 member States that initially endorsed to adopt Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in June 2001 at United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). As a signatory nation, India has also pledged: “…in particular to ensure their access to treatment…” The new AIDS treatment access numbers released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 17th April 2007 are a grave warning about the state of AIDS treatment scale up. In 2006, treatment access grew by 700,000 to an estimated total of 2,015,000 people, leaving many millions more in urgent need of antiretroviral therapy. At this rate of expansion the world will fall five million people short of the internationally declared and reaffirmed Universal Access target of 9.8 million on treatment by 2010. Each day 8000 people living with HIV/AIDS die, and 13,000 become HIV positive. By 2010, 100 million people will be infected with HIV worldwide--45 million new infections in only 5 years.

Through this Memorandum:

Wecall our Government to keep the promises. Fulfill the political commitments made in the Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) to protect the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Create new laws and enforce existing laws that protect and promote the social, economic and human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in order to help eliminate stigma, bigotry and discrimination.

We call the Government to prove its promises are more than empty rhetoric and say when and how they will ensure to scale up first-line anti-retroviral treatment (ARV) to all those who need it – and, for growing numbers of people living with HIV, the need to now introduce second-line treatment. There can be no excuses. The cost of inaction is too high. Daily, people are dying because they cannot access second-line treatment.

We call for the Government to approve free provision and availability of lifesaving second-line treatment for AIDS at the earliest. There was and still is insufficient political will, in the country, to provide second-line treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS. The existing policy of the Government to achieve one lakh (100,000) population for those who are in need of first-line treatment before moving to introduce second line treatment needs to be eliminated as this policy is blocking the practice of Universal Access to all those who require treatment.

We call for the Government to ensure that access to second-line treatment is in no way dependent on the ability to pay. In particular, user fees— not limited to co-payments for ART and school fees — should be eliminated wherever these have the potential to limit access to such treatment and related services.

We call the Government to change the course of history by introducing second-line treatment to bolster prevention efforts and improve overall health systems throughout the country. Comprehensive Treatment and care of people living with HIV/AIDS and effective prevention cannot wait. We demand real Access for All.

We call for the promotion and integration of ARV treatment with sexual and reproductive health services, tuberculosis, hepatitis C and care into primary health care

We call for the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to facilitate an independent, external process, involving people living with HIV and other stakeholders, to develop criteria and an oversight mechanism for defining and monitoring the achievement of targets for Universal Access, set at UNGASS 2006, to which the Government of India is a signatory.

We call the Government for adequate and sustainable financing for HIV/AIDS. Though government funding for HIV/AIDS has increased considerably in this year’s budget, it is still not enough. Sustainable financing mechanisms are not in place to meet the full costs of comprehensive services including HIV prevention, universal access to treatment and full coverage of support for children living or affected by AIDS. This should be addressed.

We call to use the rights reaffirmed in the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (the "Doha Declaration"). We must issue compulsory licenses for patented drugs, including drugs for second line treatment of HIV. Adopt pro-public health policies regarding intellectual property rights.

We call our Government to ensure that regional and bilateral trade agreements do not exceed the standards set in the Doha Declaration and do not restrict the right to locally produce or import low-cost quality generics.

We call for revitalised prevention campaigns that will reach key populations and communities most at risk and will help stop the transmission of HIV.

We call for treatment literacy programs that will reach the people, both in rural and urban communities so that ARV treatment regimens can be clearly understood in order to be effective and to minimise resistance.

We call for enhanced strategies to prevent new infections. This should include dramatically scaling up access to male and female condoms, comprehensive education for adolescents and young people, increased access to sterile needles, safe blood and blood products and other life-saving prevention tools. For future generations, we need to commit to implementing the scale up of access to mother to child transmission prevention, in the framework of expanding access to treatment for mothers and their families, in all antenatal clinics. And, we must provide post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for sexual assault and occupational exposure.

We call to stop the crisis among orphans and vulnerable children. Address the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, children living with HIV/AIDS, and other vulnerable children by developing a comprehensive policy that provide total support to orphans and children infected and affected by AIDS, through free enrollment in school, housing, and access to free health care and social services.

Wecall to demand multinational pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers to immediately reduce the prices of essential anti-HIV/AIDS medications to a level affordable to the populations of developing countries, including India.

We call for expanded, free and accessible HIV testing and treatment services that will reach to all the communities including the rural areas. Access to treatment doesn’t make much sense if it’s not accessible.

We call for a Special Rapporteur on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights to be appointed and empowered (including budget and staff) under the auspices of the National HumanRightsCommission, Government of India.

We call for the Special Rapporteur to investigate the second-line treatment needs of people living with HIV/AIDS that is widely neglected, and to contribute human rights-based analysis and recommendations on the Rights of All to Universal Access to ARV treatment including second-line treatment.

We call for the annual report prepared by the Special Rapporteur to be presented as a checklist against Government commitments and progress on key legal reforms, and on the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws and protection, while identifying ongoing barriers to Universal Access. The report should be prepared with the active and full inclusion of PLHIV, persons who are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, and civil society.

We call our Parliamentarians to support and endorse publicly and within the Parliament our advocacy efforts. The Global AIDS Week of Actionshould become an invaluable forum for the sharing and debate of key issues related to HIV/AIDS by and with Parliamentarians and their constituents.

For all of these critical issues, we ask for your leadership and support.

In solidarity

Name of the organizations

INP+

DNP+

PWN+

Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO)

Plan India

IndiaHIV/AIDS Alliance

SaharaMichaels Care Home

Action Aid International India

CENTAD

Lawyers Collective

Love Life Society

AHF India Cares

MSF