---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 22:54:10 -0700 From: David Mozer <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: us-afr <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [AfricaMatters] FW: Alert: Ask Congress to Support Medicines for Developing Countries -----Original Message----- Ask Congress to Support Medicines for Developing Countries! Please contact your representative and ask them to co-sponsor H.R.2470. Maxine Waters, Fortney Pete Stark, Dennis Kucinich and Barbara Lee have introduced H.R. 2470, the Medicines to Eliminate Diseases in Developing States Act (the MEDDS Act) in the House of Representatives. This bill would promote access to affordable medicines for HIV/AIDS and other diseases in developing countries. A copy of the Dear Colleague is included below. Please encourage Members of Congress to cosponsor this bill. Thank You! Kathleen Sengstock Legislative Assistant Rep. Maxine Waters 2344 Rayburn (202) 225-2201 June 17, 2003 Developing Countries Need Access to Medicine ! Dear Colleague: We are writing to request your cosponsorship of H.R. 2470, the Medicines to Eliminate Diseases in Developing States Act (the MEDDS Act). This bill would promote access to affordable medicines for HIV/AIDS and other diseases in developing countries. Access to medicines is severely limited in developing countries. Developing countries cannot afford to purchase medicines at the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies. More than 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and over 95% of them live in developing countries. Yet, the medicines that treat people with HIV/AIDS in the United States are unavailable in most developing countries. Patients in developing countries with other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer also lack access to life-saving medicines. When medicines are available, they are prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest elites. When individual developing countries such as South Africa and Brazil have attempted to make generic medicines available to their populations, they faced legal challenges from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and multinational pharmaceutical companies. The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health affirmed the rights of developing countries to take measures to protect public health and promote access to medicines. This declaration was adopted by the WTO at the Fourth Ministerial Conference at Doha, Qatar, on November 14, 2001. Unfortunately, the implementation of this declaration has been delayed while multinational pharmaceutical companies -- with the support of the United States Trade Representative -- maneuver to limit its scope. Meanwhile, people in developing countries continue to suffer and die from treatable diseases. At least 4.5 million people have died of HIV/AIDS in the year-and-a-half since the Doha Declaration was adopted. The Medicines to Eliminate Diseases in Developing States Act would protect the rights of developing countries to promote access to medicines for HIV/AIDS and other diseases. This bill would require the United States to support full implementation of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. The bill would also make it illegal for the United States to initiate WTO proceedings or use federal funds to attempt to overturn developing country policies that promote access to medicines. We urge our colleagues to support the MEDDS Act and allow developing countries to make life-saving medicines available to their people. To cosponsor the MEDDS Act, please contact Kathleen Sengstock of Congresswoman Waters' staff at (202) 225-2201. Sincerely, Maxine Waters Fortney Pete Stark Member of Congress Member of Congress Dennis Kucinich Barbara Lee Member of Congress Member of Congress ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/DKgolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To the extent possible, please keep postings concise. Our archives are at : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/us-afr-network. To Post a message, send it to [log in to unmask] . Tell others to subscribe by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] . To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: [log in to unmask] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~