Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-15-Speech-4-130"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-03-15"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Access to medicaments for AIDS patients in the third world2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010315.7.4-130"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-03-15-Speech-4-1312
lpv:speaker	lp:Hanja Maij-weggen2
lpv:spokenAs	member_of_the_bureau; EPP-ED (1999-10-12--2002-03-07)3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (1999-09-14--2002-01-14)3 member; AFCO (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Christen Democratisch Appèl (1999-07-20--2003-09-30)3 substitute; Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, the case brought by 39 pharmaceutical companies against the South African government on the sale of cheap drugs against AIDS is a tragedy as well as a dilemma. A tragedy because the scale of the problem in South Africa, where millions of people suffer from AIDS, is almost impossible to grasp. South Africa is one of many countries contending with this problem. Ninety-five per cent of those infected with HIV live in developing countries. Africa has over 25 million AIDS patients, and South Africa 4 million. By 2010, life expectancy in Africa will fall by 20 years. In South Africa, half of all young people already run the risk of dying from this disease. It is a tragedy that all these countries have to cope with. Then there is the dilemma of the pharmaceutical industry, which has meanwhile developed drugs that have reduced the number of deaths from AIDS in Europe and the US by 75%. But those drugs are so expensive – in Dutch terms, NLG 30 000 a year per patient – that they are out of reach and unaffordable for African AIDS patients. Hence it is understandable that these African countries should look for solutions, for instance imitation drugs and parallel imports. After all, the lives of millions of people are at stake. The price varies from NLG 30 000 to NLG 450. In our view a court case is not the right way of solving problems. Solutions must be sought through discussion, as has happened meanwhile in Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Uganda, where five pharmaceutical companies are working with three governments on considerably cheaper drugs. For that matter, the pharmaceutical industry often exaggerates its costs: after all huge profits are also made in this sector, especially on cosmetics and on products like tranquillisers and vitamins. AIDS drugs constitute only a fraction of sales. We therefore advocate the dropping of the court cases in South Africa and the finding of an acceptable solution, and therefore ask the Commission to retract its previous letter to the South African government in which the case brought by the pharmaceutical industry is supported, and to do its utmost to ensure the application of the TRIPS scheme in the WTO. Europe must opt for solidarity with the AIDS patients and not for the rights of the strongest and wealthiest."@en1
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"(Applause)"1

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