E-drug: MSF Opening Press Statement at G8 in Evian
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MSF to G8: Not Another Summit of Empty Promises on Health - The
Lives of Millions Are Not Disposable.
Evian, 1 June 2003 Today, 19,000 people will die from HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, malaria, sleeping sickness and kala-azar. These and
other infectious diseases will kill a total of 14 million people this year,
despite the countless promises and political commitments made by
Group of Eight (G8) countries since the June 2000 G8 Summit in
Okinawa, Japan, where a major initiative to tackle infectious diseases
was launched. Each year, on the occasion of the annual G8 summits,
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) urges G8 countries to uphold the
commitments they have made and to mobilise the political will and
financial resources necessary to mount a credible response to the
human suffering caused by infectious diseases. And each year G8
political inaction results in lives lost.
"The G8 will come to Evian with promises of resources and 'moral'
commitment to alleviating the suffering of millions of people with
HIV/AIDS and other diseases, but how can we be expected to take
these declarations seriously when virtually every promise of the last
three years has been broken"? said Dr Bernard Pecoul, director of
MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. "We will not be
satisfied with yet another declaration of empty promises. The lives of
our patients and millions like them are not disposable. The G8 must
make a choice: are these annual gatherings simply going to become
platforms for good PR designed to protect the commercial interests of
the wealthiest nations or are they going to start transforming
announcements into real, life-saving interventions"?
MSF demands that the G8:
- Make existing essential medicines affordable to those who need
them by supporting an equity pricing system centred on generic
competition, and abandon reliance on voluntary, ad hoc efforts to
increase access to medicines, which do more to protect the
interests of the pharmaceutical industry than the lives of people in
developing countries;
- Fully fund the fight against major infectious diseases through the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
and other financing mechanisms, and ensure that resources are
spent wisely in order to treat the largest number of people possible;
- Ensure that public health needs are prioritised over commercial
interests in international trade negotiations so that patents no
longer constitute a barrier to access to medicines;
- Increase research and development (R&D) into new essential
medicines, diagnostics, and vaccines for neglected diseases such
as sleeping sickness, kala-azar, malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS and
announce political and financial support for innovative global
strategies to ensure needs-driven R&D for health.
MSF spokespeople in Evian:
Dr Bernard Pecoul: +41 79 219 65 60 (French/English)
Ellen 't Hoen: +33 (0) 6 223 758 71 (English/Dutch)
Nicoletta Dentico: +39 33 54 84 237 (Italian/English)
Rachel M. Cohen: +1 917 331 9077 (English/Spanish)
Nathan Ford: + 44 777 56 88 166 (English)
Dr Mary Moran: +44 779 14 38 783 (English)
Caroline Livio: +33 (0) 6 73 18 92 73 (French)
Nuria Mejias: +34 646 47 65 88 (Spanish)
Tobias Luppe: +49 160 90 60 59 80 (German)
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