PRESS ALERT

Nigeria activists charge Bush to back commitment with action

JULY 10, 2003: As Nigeria prepares to play host to President George Bush on
Friday, Nigerian HIV/AIDS activists under the aegis of the Treatment Action
Movement (TAM) a coalition of civil society groups working in the area of
HIV/AIDS treatment and care have called on the American leader to ensure
that his AIDS policies are not merely rhetoric, but focus on improving the
quality of lives of the continent's 30 million People living with HIV/AIDS.

In a statement issued by the group on Thursday, TAM urged the American
President to match his pronouncements on expanding access to treatment for
PLWHA in Africa with corresponding action.

We commend the President's pronouncements made in his State of the Union
address of a comprehensive plan that will prevent 7 million new HIV
infections, and treat 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS on our continent
as well as his pledge to commit $15 billion over the next five years, to
turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the
Caribbean.

However, the Bush Administration needs to live up to that commitment by
providing the commensurate resources starting from the 2004 fiscal year.
True commitment will be demonstrated on the part of the Bush Administration
when $3 billion is allotted for HIV/AIDS interventions for Africa and
sustained over the next five years.

Apart from sustained support from Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the group
also called on the Bush administration to release the full amount pledged to
the Global Fund.

"In its short existence, The Global Fund has proved itself as a veritable
tool for addressing the continent's AIDS situation. Yet, it is still under
funded. Prompt support for the Fund is much needed and will be a step in
the right direction", the group said.

The group also stressed the need to strengthen and expand access to
prevention of mother-to child initiatives and treatment. We wish to remind
the President of his promise which he made in 2002 "to treat one million
women annually, and reduce mother-to-child transmission by 40 percent within
five years or less in target countries. ".

"We believe these are not just empty promises. There is very little we can
do as positive women if we're denied the opportunity to have children
because we're afraid we'll have what our doctors call AIDS babies. The
only way this can be challenged is if we have access to affordable
life-saving drugs to treat opportunistic infections and prevent mother to
child transmission.

For as long as we allow the pharmaceutical companies to put their profits
ahead of our lives, everything we say and do would be all rhetoric,
beautiful nonsense. We've lost our friends, husbands, sisters and babies to
AIDS. We cannot afford to purchase our lives at the price the
Pharmaceutical companies are charging", TAM's focal person Ms. Rolake Nwagwu
stated.

The group also expressed concern over the United States rigid stance on
trade policies that could likely limit the continued access to generic
versions of drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and a host of
other diseases plaguing the continent.

" U.S. trade representatives continue to block implementation of the 2001
Doha Declaration on trade which calls for looser patent rules in order to
give African countries greater access to essential anti-AIDS drugs.
Enactment of trade policies that will ensure that public health benefits are
placed ahead of the profit motives of the U.S' pharmaceutical industries
will be the litmus test of President Bush's commitment to an expanded access
to treatment programme.

"Access to ARVs under Nigeria's treatment programme has given about 8,000
people hope. This treatment still comes at a great cost to many. Expanding
access to generic antiretrovirals, and anti-TB drugs amongst others the
programme will make many more PLWHA dreams of living normal healthy lives a
reality", said Olayide Akanni, of Journalists of Against AIDS (JAAIDS),
Nigeria

For further information, please contact:

Rolake Nwagwu (Treatment Action Movement): 0803 3035 895
Dr. Emeka Anyamele ( Centre for the Right to Health) 0803 333 6645
Olayide Akanni (Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria): 0802 3037 998

Rolake Nwagwu
Treatment Action Movement
Email: [email protected]