UN HIV/AIDS accord sets drug access goals

The final agreement of the United Nations special session on HIV/AIDS(Marketletter July 2) has called on UN member states to develop, by 2003, national programs to increase the availability of drugs to treat HIV/ AIDS, by addressing issues such as pricing.

By 2005, states should also have made progress in the implementation of comprehensive health care programs, according to the 22-page declaration, which does not, however, constitute a legally-binding obligation on UN member states.

As reported in last week's Marketletter, many of the non-governmental organizations present at the conference felt that too much emphasis was being given to drug access rather than prevention and basic health care provision in developing nations, but in fact the final declaration set more goals for prevention than for drug access. Jose Serra, Health Minister of Brazil, whose national program providing free treatment for all who need it has been hailed as a great success, told the meeting that his government's policy of ensuring free and universal treatment means that the population "feels encouraged to accept voluntary and confidential testing, improving notification of AIDS in earlier stages that otherwise would have been hidden."