Mr President, your Excellencies and distinguished delegates.
Thank you for inviting Oxfam to this important meeting. This summit is a great
opportunity to intensify efforts to respond to the health crisis facing Africa
today.
I would like to start by congratulating the government of South Africa, on its
historical victory in its effort to protect the public health of its citizens.
This is a victory for all Africa and beyond -- governments, civil society, and
more importantly, people living in poverty everywhere.
Oxfam is an international organization, working with others to overcome poverty
and suffering. We support humanitarian relief and development programmes in
over 80 countries worldwide, and over 25 African States. We work in partnership
with governments, civil society and communities. It is through our
long-standing close contact with local communities, that we have come to fully
appreciate the heavy cost which poor households have to pay in order to access
health care and basic drugs.
To share with you just one, personal, experience -- Jessica, a young African
mother struggling to give her children a decent life, told us, “I share medicine
between my children, because I can’t afford to buy medicine for each”. Other
women tell us, “We can’t afford medicine, so we just go without”. Health
workers are also concerned. A nurse working with an Oxfam partner points out
that poor African women often live with painful pelvic infections because they
cannot afford medicines.
Oxfam recognizes a multitude of factors that hinder poor people’s access to
drugs, from inadequate R&D, to high prices, to abysmal lack of funding for
global health services. We believe actions should address all these problems.
We have been working with partners on many of these fronts, including advocating
for adequate financing of health services via debt relief, PRSPs and increased
international aid. Today, I would like to bring your attention to the new WTO
Trade Related Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS). This
will have a negative impact on drug prices, by extending Intellectual Property
Rights to both process and product to 20 years for all countries. Oxfam
believes that this “one size fits all” approach is counter to human development
targets for Africa.
There is no question that TRIPS will hinder poor peoples’ access to cheap,
generic equivalents. For example, take the price of fluconazole, which is 30c
per capsule in Thailand, while $18 in Kenya where it is under patent. Like
Thailand, some African countries are able to produce generic drugs. Egypt
currently provides over 90% of its domestic drug needs through its own
production. All this will undoubtedly change after full implementation of the
new WTO rules. Generic production will be delayed and price monopoly will force
prices out of the reach of people like Jessica. This could be a matter of life
and death for some patients.
Currently, public private partnerships and price cuts have been a response to
the health crisis in Africa. These partnerships play a positive role in access
to treatment. However, they are limited in scope and sustainability. There is
also a danger that undue reliance on companies’ goodwill could detract from the
challenge of meeting what should be a basic human right. Quoting from the
Universal declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has a right to share in
scientific advancement and its benefit”. African governments have the duty to
balance these rights of their people with the commercial rights of drug
companies.
Proponents of strong patent laws argue that there are already enough safeguards
in TRIPS to allow governments to respond to health needs. However, in reality,
when countries try to enact legislation to implement these safeguards, and to
ensure protection of public health, they are bullied by the pharmaceutical lobby
and northern governments, especially the US. South Africa and Brazil are
examples, but there are many more who will find it difficult to muster the
resources necessary to stand up to this external pressure.
TRIPS also includes a transitional period for least developed counties and
grace periods for some developing counties. Instead of being arbitrarily
chosen, these dates should be tied to a country’s ability to meet
internationally agreed health targets. TRIPS is meant to balance the right
of society and the right of inventors, but let’s look at who currently benefits
from intellectual property rights:
According to the Human Development Report 1999 --
Oxfam is not against patents per se. We recognize their value in stimulating
R&D. But stronger patent rules will not generate incentive for R&D for diseases
specific to Africa, such as the ones we are discussing at this summit. 90% of
all R&D today goes into diseases of only 10% of the world population. Africa
represents only one percent of the global drugs sales and this does not motivate
drugs companies to invest in R&D in diseases of the poor. Oxfam is instead
calling for the establishment of a global research fund under the auspices of
WHO, to ensure R&D into neglected diseases.
In conclusion, Oxfam believes that African leaders have a unique opportunity
right now to take the lead to protect the health of the people of Africa by:
Lets make sure governments and civil society work together to grasp this
opportunity and put commitments into concrete actions.
Thank you.