Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-01-Speech-3-139"
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"en.20041201.14.3-139"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank the European Commission for its strategic framework of October 2003 and the proposed action plan for next year, which also provides for concrete and targeted measures. The EU is the second largest donor to the global Aids fund, provided around 18% of the total funds. Yet we are faced with the fact that new infections are rising dramatically, both within the EU and in other countries. Commissioner Kyprianou said in a press release that many young people who are currently becoming infected were too young to understand the first Aids campaign. This is undoubtedly correct. Yet it is also necessary to remember that many young people are quite simply given false information, with, above all, Aids being depicted today as a treatable disease. The pharmaceutical industry is also doing its bit by presenting it as a conquered epidemic. The fact is, however, that even the anti-retroviral medicines which are available have major side effects, and that being able to lead a normal life is of course out of the question.
Furthermore, the high costs of therapy, which range from EUR 7 000 to 12 000 per annum, must also be taken into account, as they are a major burden on a country’s health budget. I should therefore like to call for research and development to be carried out into better and, above all, cheaper medication, possibly by means of generic medicines, so that these can be made available to wide sections of the population. Something I find particularly worrying is the lack of awareness of the problem among young people, who, when asked in interviews why they have such a lax attitude to the disease, reply, ‘which life should I protect myself for?’
I therefore believe that the plan drawn up by the Commission must also include this holistic approach, and, above all, combine education and possibly also giving meaning to life with the whole field."@en1
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