E-DRUG: Zambia Declares AIDS Emergency to Produce ARVs
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[Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Cameroun(?) already issued compulsory licenses
to allow access to generic ARVs. Other countries (eg South Africa)
have relied on pushing companies to issue voluntary licenses.
Kenya also declared AIDS an emergency, but its Ministry of Trade
has still not issued a Compulsory License to Cosmos, which has
received an order from MOH to locally produce ARVs.
Now Zambia has also declared AIDS an emergency.
More African countries should use the flexibilities offered by the 2001
Doha declaration.
Two messages! Crossposted with thanks from IP-Health. WB]
The Post (Lusaka)
September 4, 2004
By Webster Malido
Lusaka
THE government has with effect from September 2, 2004 declared HIV/AIDS
as an emergency for a period of five years to allow the manufacture of
cheaper anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
And the National AIDS Council of Zambia and Non-Governmental
Organisations Co-coordinating Committee (NGOCC) have both welcomed the
decision, stating that it would at least increase accessibility to AIDS
treatment.
Covering the period from August this year to July 2009, the declaration
is aimed reducing the cost of ARV access.
Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry permanent secretary David
Chilipamushi said that in view of the pandemic and the high cost of
patented anti-retroviral drugs, the commerce minister on September 2,
declared an emergency from August 2004 to July 2009 to allow for the
manufacture of generic anti-retroviral drugs in Zambia during the period
of the declared emergency.
The minister signed the Statutory Instrument under the powers granted to
him under the Patents Act and in accordance with the recent Declaration
on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health
under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The instrument also emphasises that in accordance with the Declaration
reached at the WTO on TRIPS, generic anti-retroviral drugs produced in
Zambia during the emergency period cannot be exported.
Chilipamushi said that companies or individuals who wish to manufacture,
use or vend any generic anti-retroviral drugs will henceforth require a
written authorisation, during the declared period of emergency from the
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry.
He said the statutory Instrument would be published in the Government
Gazette within the next 28 days.
Recently, health minister Dr Brian Chituwo disclosed that Zambia had
started manufacturing ARVs with assistance from the Cuban government but
the whole exercise was only awaiting approval from the Ministry of
Commerce, Trade and Industry in view patent law requirements.
In 1995, TRIPS became part of international law, which covers trade
rules that cover intellectual property.
The rules were agreed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which also
has the power to enforce them.
But the negotiations that brought these rules into being were viewed to
be suspicious as some critics believed the United States government,
influenced by lobbying from the pharmaceutical industry, used them to
push hard for much stronger patent protection in all member countries as
well as harsh enforcement.
But during the Doha Round WTO meeting in 2001 in Qatar, things came to a
head as developing countries were finding TRIPs as a hindrance to them
getting affordable treatment for major epidemics, especially AIDS.
Anti-TRIPS critics such as Oxfam have continued to argue that without
changes to these trade rules, the future for millions of people living
with HIV/AIDS looks bleak.
And welcoming the development, NAC director Dr Rosemary Musonda said it
would help in reducing the cost of importing generic drugs from other
countries.
Dr Musonda noted that at the moment, the government was incurring huge
importation costs of generic ARVs and that the latest development would
in the long-term reduce such costs.
She said quality assurance would equally be guaranteed since the drugs
would be manufactured locally.
"Really, it's looking to the future in terms of affirming ARV access.
This is really good," said Dr Musonda.
NGOCC chairperson Lucy Muyoyeta said it was a generally good move but
hoped that women would benefit more in terms of access to ARV treatment.
"One hopes that there will be no cost so that they are provided for free
because at the moment, the cheapest amount is K40,000 from government
hospitals. But that's still a lot, especially for women," she said.
Muyoyeta observed that the nature of gender relations at the moment was
such that it was quite difficult for women to access ARVs without
permission from their husbands.
She said this was one area that needed critical attention if ARV
treatment was to become meaningful to women.
Women represent almost 50 per cent of the global infection total of 40
million, according to the United Nations Joint HIV/AIDS Programme
(UNAIDS).
Last year alone, the disease claimed 3 million lives globally and 5
million people were infected with the disease in the same period.
Chituwo recently told Parliament that the government had managed to
exceed its target of 10,000 patients on treatment and 12,000 people were
now receiving anti-AIDS drugs.
The government has set a target of treating 100,000 people by 2005. At
least 16 per cent of Zambia's 10.2 million people are infected with
HIV/AIDS.
---
Zambia Declares AIDS Emergency to Produce ARVs
Fri Sep 3, 2004 09:13 AM ET
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia has declared HIV/AIDS a national emergency in
a bid to start manufacturing generic AIDS drugs under World Trade
Organization (WTO) rules, a senior government official said on Friday.
One in every five Zambians is infected with HIV or AIDS, which has
orphaned more than 800,000 children and killed nearly 700,000 Zambians
since the first case was reported in 1984.
Davidson Chilipamushi, the permanent secretary of commerce, trade and
industry, said the government had declared HIV/AIDS an emergency from
August 2004 to July 2009 to enable local firms to obtain licenses to
produce cheaper AIDS generic drugs.
"The minister (of commerce, trade and industry) has signed a statutory
instrument to declare an (HIV/AIDS) emergency," Chilipamushi told Reuters.
The declaration would pave the way for the government to issue licenses
to local firms to begin to manufacture generic AIDS drugs and it was
already evaluating an application from local drugs manufacturing firm,
Pharco Limited.
Patented western anti-retroviral drugs cost between $300 and $1,000, for
a month's dosage, in this southern African country of 10 million people,
the majority of which live way below the World Bank poverty threshold of
$1 per day.
Declaring HIV/AIDS an emergency is a requirement for developing
countries, under a recent declaration on Trade Related Intellectual
Properties Rights (TRIPS) at the WTO, to manufacture generic AIDS drugs
strictly for local distribution.
"In accordance with the declaration reached at the WTO on TRIPS generic
anti-retroviral drugs produced in Zambia cannot be exported,"
Chilipamushi said.
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