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Background:
Thirty-nine pharmaceutical companies recently dropped their
lawsuit against South Africa, which jeopardized the lives of
millions of South Africans living with AIDS. Now South Africa is
able to move forward with the implementation of their Medicines
Act.
However, a threat of litigation
still exists against countries Brazil, India, and other
developing nations that choose to implement similar legislation
to provide life-saving AIDS medicines to their people.
H.R. 1185, the Global Access to
HIV/AIDS Medicines Act of 2001,was introduced on March 22.
Sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and 8 co-sponsors, this
bill would codify President Clinton’s Executive Order
prohibiting the U.S. from exerting pressure through the World
Trade Organization to stop sub-Saharan African countries from
importing or manufacturing generic HIV/AIDS medications, and
would expand its reach to other developing countries that have
been hit hard by AIDS, but have limited resources to address the
crisis. Countries that declare a national health emergency
related to the HIV/AIDS crisis and/or have an HIV/AIDS incidence
of 5% or more would benefit from this bill.
Status:
This bill has been
referred to the House International Relations Committee for
further action.
Action:
If your
Representative is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1185, thank her/him for
doing so. If not, contact your Representative and ask that
she/he sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1185. Note that
addressing the issue of access to life-saving HIV/AIDS medicines
and technologies is a vital part of a comprehensive strategy to
combat AIDS. We cannot tolerate the current policy that dictates
that life with a manageable illness is possible if you are
wealthy, but death from AIDS is certain if you are poor.
Current co-sponsors of H.R.
1185 are;
Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan
Schakowsky (D-IL), B. Sanders (I-VT), Donna Christensen
(D-Virgin Islands), Danny Davis (D-IL), Juanita Millender-McDonald
(D-CA), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)
and Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)
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