Max Lawson, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam said: "What we need to see from the G8 is money, not just another bland communiqué telling us HIV/AIDS is important. By 2010, 10 million people will need treatment, and 7 million need treatment right now. The G8 must stump up the cash now for universal access to prevention, treatment and care, as promised in 2005.
"Germany putting this on the agenda was a real opportunity, but squabbling and backtracking may squander that. In last minute talks, some countries, including Canada and Italy, are trying to avoid any mention of money. Negotiations are set to go on all night. The Germans should hold their ground until the checks are signed."
Oxfam also said that the G8 must agree to provide more money to address the shortage of 4.25 million health workers and inadequate health services in the developing world. Funding must be holistic and coordinated, as it is not enough to build clinics or fund new drug programs if there is nobody to administer them.
Lawson: "Today alone, while the G8 enjoys the sunshine and champagne, 4000 children will be killed by diarrhea and 1400 women will die in pregnancy and childbirth. It is within the G8's power to prevent these unnecessary and shameful deaths.
"Visiting hospitals in Malawi I have met nurses and doctors on 30 hour shifts, without proper breaks. They were exhausted but they didn't feel they could stop. In some places, life-saving drugs were available but are not being administered because there was no one to do so. This is what happens when the G8 renege on their commitments."
Oxfam added that trade rules were impeding access to affordable medicines by granting pharmaceutical companies monopoly rights that threatened generic competition and kept prices high. One out of every three people in the world today cannot afford the medicine they need to treat deadly diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Oxfam is calling on the G8 to:
At the venue of the alternative summit, where campaigners have been gathering since Saturday, Oxfam staged a stunt, with 'Big Head' puppets of G8 leaders dressed as doctors and nurses testing the health of Africa, by holding stethoscopes to a map of the continent.
]]>The decision will protect India's special role as the world's leading provider of affordable medicines to the poor. The agencies welcome Novartis's response today that it is unlikely to appeal the ruling.
Novartis had challenged a law that allows India to refuse a patent for an existing medicine when it had been modified only slightly. The agencies said the case was a direct attack against India's right to protect public health.
Novartis and the pharmaceutical industry have been given a clear message to respect developing countries' legal right to use the World Trade Organization TRIPS (trade-related intellectual property) safeguards to strike the right balance between protecting public health and intellectual property, the agencies said.
India—known as the 'pharmacy of the developing world' due to its massive generic drug production industry—supplies most of the world's affordable generics to developing countries where patented medicines are priced out of most people's reach. More than two-thirds of generic medicines exported from India are sold in developing countries at a fraction of the cost of patented brand medicines.
Novartis's legal challenge posed an enormous threat in developing countries to millions of people suffering from cancer, HIV and AIDS, diabetes and other diseases who are too poor to pay for expensive patented medicines.
Sandhya Venkateswaran, Head of Advocacy for CARE International in India said: "This ruling is a lifeline for the millions of people who cannot afford brand-name drugs, and ensures that essential medicines from India will reach those who rely on them. CARE and other agencies can breathe easily now and continue to deliver treatment programs.
"More than 5 million people with HIV around the world still cannot afford anti-retroviral medicine, but this ruling reduces the number of people for whom HIV is a virtual death sentence. CARE has been able to buy more than twice the amount of anti-retrovirals to treat the HIV and AIDS patients we work with in Peru, thanks to the generic industry in India."
A global campaign by civil society has seen nearly half a million people around the world campaigning against Novartis to drop its case.
Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign said: "This ruling is a vindication for India and a victory for campaigners. Developing countries should not be bullied by pharmaceutical companies and forced into having to defend themselves in court for correctly using the safeguards available to them to protect public health."
Linda Hartke, coordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which mobilized church leaders to campaign against Novartis’ case in India, said, “This is a victory for all those who believe people, not profits, must come first in public health.”
CARE, Oxfam, and the EAA call on Novartis to continue to take positive steps to promote access to medicines in developing countries, to promote research and development for neglected diseases and to strike an appropriate balance between protecting public health safeguards in developing countries and intellectual property rights.
]]>G8 countries are "running to stand still" said Max Lawson, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam, as last minute talks between officials ended inconclusively, with some countries reluctant even to reiterate past aid promises on the eve of the summit.
Lawson: "G8 officials have today been involved in feverish negotiation over the final texts but have failed to agree. Italy, Canada and Japan are leading the scramble for reverse gear, refusing even to reiterate promises to increase aid that they made in 2005 - mainly because they have been busy breaking those promises ever since."
"The extra aid that was promised at the G8 summit in Gleneagles two years ago could put millions of kids into school, employ nurses, doctors and teachers, buy medicines for people with AIDS—literally save lives. But collectively, the G8 looks set to fall short of their pledge by a massive $30bn. If they do not get back on track, 5 million extra people will die by 2010. This is about a lot more than numbers on a piece of paper."
Climate change is the other issue that remains controversial ahead of the official summit start on Wednesday, with Germany pushing for consensus on a global stabilization target and proposals for multilateral negotiations on a post-2012 framework. The first phase of the Kyoto protocol runs from 2008-2012.
Lawson: "Over the last few days we have seen a plethora of new initiatives on climate change, led by former leading naysayers, but we don't need a new process or approach. There is already a process in place at the UN that countries should follow, and the G8 should support, so that they can come up with a global solution to global problem.
"We are already seeing poor people in developing countries suffering the effects of climate change. They can't wait for the results of a beauty parade of different country initiatives. They need the G8 to provide money now to help them adapt to climate change, while at the same time agreeing on measures to cut emissions and limit global warming to as far below 2 degrees as possible."
Also over the weekend, violent protests attracted the attention of G8 watchers and the media. Peaceful campaigning was overshadowed by violence and injury.
Lawson: "This summit must not be remembered for broken promises and burning cars. There is huge potential here and a huge chance for the world richest and most powerful countries to live up to their responsibility to support development and poverty reduction in the developing world. Failure to act on this would be unforgivable."
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