Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-13-Speech-2-314"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040113.14.2-314"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, it was in February 2001 that the Commission adopted the action programme ‘Accelerated action against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the context of poverty reduction’. The Commission has now presented an evaluation of its implementation and given an account of outstanding issues and future challenges.
The importance of supporting treatment programmes by producing quality antiretroviral drugs at low prices cannot, therefore, be overestimated. In sub-Saharan Africa, treatment is offered to only one per cent of the four million people who need it.
A report recently issued by the WHO and the World Bank shows that no progress has been made in terms of achieving the UN’s millennium development objectives regarding health. The slow progress in the health sphere is particularly worrying because many of the technologies needed to improve health are in actual fact available at reasonable prices. The problem is one of making them available to the people and creating strong health systems in all the countries.
In partnership with the ACP countries, it is very relevant to focus upon the unused resources from the European Development Fund in order to try to help vulnerable countries combat these diseases which have very negative effects on the countries’ economic opportunities and destroy their social cohesion.
I should also like to emphasise the huge significance of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for children. There are now more than 13 million children who have lost at least one of their parents because of AIDS. There is a need for a clear EU policy and for this area to be given higher priority.
I am therefore pleased about the Irish Presidency’s assurances that African issues are high on the EU’s agenda and that the EU wishes to cooperate with African partners in a coherent, serious and consistent way and to support initiatives to meet the enormous challenges faced by Africa.
To that extent, it would be a clear and welcome symbol of the EU’s obligation if, as the report calls upon it to do, it were to appoint an EU ambassador to coordinate and lead the EU’s work in this area.
There is a need for a stronger and more coherent strategy. Unfortunately, enough challenges still remain. Almost 20 000 deaths – not per year, not per month but daily, and it is the poorest countries’ populations that are absolutely the hardest hit. The crisis causes enormous human suffering and brings the possibilities of development in these countries into serious danger.
There is therefore a need for greater concerted effort in a number of related areas. There is a need to develop new medicines. Medicines of proper quality must be produced in sufficient quantities. The prices must be within the financial reach of governments and populations, and the medicines must be available to all.
In this context, I should particularly like to emphasise the need for increased and continued support for the global fund for combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Africa is the primary focus for the fund’s work. This continent receives 60% of the resources. This fund provides the best opportunity we have partly for slowing down the spread of these three diseases and, at the same time, for reducing the consequences for those who are already suffering from the symptoms. For example, a contribution from the fund to Haiti in 2002 has put the country in a position to reopen a public health clinic and operating theatre, provide five public clinics with important medicine and provide basic laboratory services to four clinics. More than 600 individuals have received anti-retroviral treatment, and more than 300 cases of tuberculosis have been discovered. In that case, the fund’s resources are not only helping Haiti’s efforts to prevent and treat HIV and tuberculosis but also mean an overall improvement in health in an area of 250 000 inhabitants.
President Prodi earlier gave an undertaking that the EU and the Member States would contribute a billion euros to the fund. I would urgently call upon both the Commission and the Member States to contribute no less than that amount, and I support the amendments by the Group of the Party of European Socialists, which make this undertaking clearer and more precise.
Prevention is still of crucial importance, but this was unfortunately sabotaged by President Bush's Mexico City Policy, which literally killed millions of men and now, in particular, women, for it means that vital reproductive health articles are withheld. That is downright unethical, and the EU absolutely must respond to this catastrophic situation.
It is also crucial to ensure that research and development efforts are directed at the developing countries’ special needs. The Commission’s reflections on specific legislative instruments to promote research and development into neglected and poverty-related diseases could point to one of the solutions.
Once the medicine is developed, it must be delivered to all patients who need it. In order to achieve this, we must support the implementation of the Doha Declaration on the link between the TRIPS Agreement and public health. There is also a need for continued discussion of the TRIPS Agreement’s significance for the accessibility of generic medicine at realistic prices.
There have been major discussions as to whether efforts should be concentrated mostly upon prevention or health. We must quite clearly make efforts in both areas. If there is no possibility of treatment, there will be no incentive to be tested. There is, however, the possibility of treatment. Generic production and competition have brought about remarkable falls in the prices of antiretroviral drugs, and, now, a number of the world’s poorest countries have the opportunity to offer treatment for less than a dollar a day."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples