Once again, George W. Bush and the Group of Eight have unveiled proposals to fund the global fight against AIDS. Once again, these proposals prioritize profit over human health.
The major capitalist powers frequently declare their intent to take on AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria—for which they
|
On May 30, Bush proposed a commitment of $30 billion over 5 years to renew his president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). Unfortunately the plan falls far short of projected needs. It provides drugs for only 2.5 million people—only 5 percent of the 40 million currently infected with the disease.
This year, the G-8—comprised of the United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Russia—allocated $60 billion to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Half of the funds will come from Bush’s PEPFAR proposal.
This is not the first time the G-8 has made big promises about AIDS. In its 2005 summit, the G-8 set the goal of providing universal access to all for treatment, care and prevention by 2010.
Yet, there is an $8 billion funding shortfall for 2007 and projected shortfalls of $10 billion per year in 2008-10. UNAIDS estimates that by 2010 over 10 million additional people will be infected with HIV/AIDS, but the current G-8 funding will only be able to cover half.
Likewise, a closer look at Bush’s 2003 $15 billion PEPFAR program shows the clear insufficiency of the current proposal.
A 2006 investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed a disturbing lack of transparency in the distribution of funds in the 2003 PEPFAR program. In an attempt to gain access to funding databases of the U.S. State Department, the journalists had to go to court. The government eventually was forced to release a small portion of its data, but much of it was too riddled with errors to be useful.
Billions of dollars wasted
PEPFAR requires that 20 percent of all AIDS spending is allocated to prevention. Two-thirds of this—$4 billion in all—is used for abstinence-only methods, while the remainder can be spent on condoms. The Lancet medical journal calls abstinence-only prevention “ill-informed and ideologically driven,” and said, “many more lives will be saved if condom use is heavily promoted alongside messages to abstain and be faithful.” Condom use has been proven to be the most effective form of prevention.
A 2006 report by the U.S. government’s General Accounting Office determined that abstinence-only programs limit the effectiveness of prevention programs. Seventeen out of 20 participating countries surveyed confirmed this conclusion.
To compound this wastefulness, Bush has consistently impeded the use of cheap generic equivalents to the expensive brand name HIV and AIDS drugs. To make his loyalties crystal clear, Bush appointed Randall Tobias, the former CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, as Global AIDS Coordinator in 2003.
Initially, only drugs from certain pharmaceutical companies were approved for use in PEPFAR, although generic brands were proven to be just as effective. PEPFAR’s own 2006 study found examples of some generic drugs costing a tenth of their brand-name counterparts. As a result, millions of people were deprived treatment each year.
By the end of 2005, PEPFAR agreed to distribute generic antiretroviral drugs, but they still amounted to only 11 percent of the program’s drug procurement budget, according to a May 2006 report submitted to Congress.
The G-8 too repeated its dedication to “intellectual property rights,” which the major pharmaceuticals uphold to protect their patents, and prevent the production of generic drugs. In response, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico issued a joint statement supporting the right of countries to stop buying patented drugs from pharmaceutical giants, and instead directly import generic drugs.
Clearly, the impact of HIV/AIDS could be greatly reduced if the political will and material resources were made available. But instead, millions suffer while pharmaceutical companies make over $100 million per day in super-profits.
This situation cannot be fundamentally transformed under capitalism, which protects the right to make money over the responsibility to save lives. A new policy and a new system are needed to take on the global AIDS epidemic.
