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Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 22:51:55 EST
From: [log in to unmask]
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Subject: [AfricaMatters] Cosatu - Memorandum To the Government of South
Africa
COSATU media release, embargoed until 11 am Saturday
2 December
(Memorandum to Government from COSATU, handed over on
2 December 2000, on the occasion of COSATU’s 15th
anniversary.)
World AIDS Day 2000
Memorandum To the Government of South
Africa
The World Health Organisation reports that already this year 2.4
million people in Africa have died from Aids (up from to 2.2
million in the whole of 1999). More than 4 million South
Africans live with HIV/AIDS, and there are 1,500 new
infections daily. A large majority of those infected are working
class people, and a majority of them are women. 13,5% - of
South Africa's workforce is HIV positive. The United Nations
predict that the country economic growth rate will decline by
0,3% - to 0,4% a year, resulting in a gross domestic product
17% lower than it would have been without AIDS.
In other words, HIV/AIDS is a here-and-now an emergency.
This is a crisis situation that calls for extraordinary measures. The
time for debate is over. The government must now take drastic
action to fight this deadly killer.
The epidemic will have an immense impact on families,
communities, the working class and the poor, the economy, the
public health system and social services. Unless addressed
dynamically it can undermine all of our transformation objectives.
Every 10 minutes a person with HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa
dies. These deaths are premature and unnecessary. Why?
Because there are medications that can and will keep adults and
children with HIV/AIDS alive, healthy and productive for many
years. Children are orphaned daily yet, with medicines their
parents can live to take care of them. Price and excessive profits
by drug companies denies poor people access to health.
COSATU therefore welcomes the agreement reached between
the Government and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer to
provide Fluconazole for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Government must ensure that these donations do not come with
strings or conditions to give up our rights to other treatment
access mechanisms such as compulsory licensing and parallel
importing. Government must ensure that the drug companies also
commit resources for distribution of these drugs and the
availability of relevant technologies.
If the distribution of these drugs is to be effective, the health
service infrastructure must be improved to ensure that there are
accessible medical centres staffed by appropriately trained
medical workers in every area. But treatment on its own is not
enough.
For this reason, COSATU supports a dynamic and holistic
response to HIV/AIDS which links access to information,
awareness, prevention and counseling together with access to
services, management, care and treatment of opportunistic
diseases associated with HIV/AIDS. Therefore we need
massive improvement in the public health and welfare systems
which require increased resources and investment from
government.
But this must be based on a government-led mass education
campaign on openness and against discrimination against people
living with HIV/AIDS. The rate of new infections can be
drastically reduced and even eliminated through this mass
campaign of public education, openness, and care and support
for people and families living with HIV/AIDS. Again this
requires the mobilisation of sufficient government resources. In
this regard government must also take steps to direct and
discipline private capital to release resources for this national
effort.
This also applies to the conditions facing workers living with
HIV/AIDS who face continuous and massive discrimination
from employers, insurance companies, pension funds. In this
regard government must enforce and expand the scope of
existing legislation against discrimination in order to root out this
unfair discrimination.
We remain committed to working in partnership with the
government through the South African National Aids Council.
We urge the government to consider favourably the demands to
make SANAC more representative.
We are also in full support of the Medical and Related
Substances Controls Amendments Act which was passed by
our parliament in 1997. We urge government to put pressure on
the Pharmaceutical companies to drop the challenge to the Act
in the constitutional court. We also call on the government to
exert pressure on the Constitutional Court to expedite its ruling
on the matter.
Government must pursue the objective of accessing affordable
HIV/AIDS drugs through parallel importation and compulsory
licensing. The first step in this regard will be to officially declare
HIV/AIDS as the national emergency for which we, as the
country must urgently get safe and affordable drugs as the matter
of urgency. This declaration must be followed by consistent
steps by government to work with and against drug companies
and international agencies in order to ensure speedy access to
these drugs.
Government must also work to ensure that the minimum benefits
under the Medical Schemes Act provide the affordable and
effective treatment benefits for people living with HIV/AIDS.
SIGNED ON BEHALF OF GOVERNMENT SIGNED ON
BEHALF OF COSATU
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