Reposted from The Nigeria-AIDS eForum, a project of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria.
For further information, visit the website:
http://www.nigeria-aids.org

PRESS ALERT

UPCOMING MEETING IN ABUJA THREATENS SURVIVAL OF PEOPLE
LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS, ADVOCATES WARN

NOVEMBER 17, 2002: HIV/AIDS treatment activists in Nigeria
have expressed serious concern about a meeting in Abuja
this week that threatens access to treatment for people
living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

The activists met on Saturday in Lagos under the auspices
of the Treatment Action Movement (TAM), a coalition of
civil society groups working in the area of HIV/AIDS
treatment and care.

The activists say that the meeting, sponsored by the United
States Department of Commerce, could erode access to cheap
and affordable medicines, especially antiretrovirals (ARV) that
are currently being enjoyed by people living with HIV/AIDS
(PLWHA) in Nigeria.

The meeting, holding on November 20-22 2002 at the Nicon
Hilton Hotel in Abuja, will decide on the final draft for
Nigeria's Intellectual Property (IP) law, which will, among
other things, regulate importation of medicines for many of the
most common epidemics in Africa, including HIV/AIDS.

The new law is being drafted in compliance with the
Agreements on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS), to which Nigeria is a signatory.

But activists are protesting the secretive nature of the
forthcoming meeting, and the non-involvement of civil
society groups in the preparations. Specifically, activists
are concerned that the new draft law being prepared would
disallow importation of cheap but effective generic
HIV/AIDS medicines, thus leaving the market open only to
monopolies of big pharmaceutical firms that would set high
prices and ensure that the medicines are beyond the reach of
Nigerians.

The situation could also lead to a stoppage of the federal
government's current treatment programme, under which PLWA
can get cheap ARV medicines purchased at low prices from
generic manufacturers such as in India, as the new law will
make such purchases illegal.

"It is outrageous that such an important meeting as one to
draft an IP bill that will have implications on the fate of
3.5 million Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS, is being done
without our input", said Pat Matemilola, president of the
Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
(NEPWHAN). "Considering the great import of decisions that
would emanate from this meeting as regards continued access
to life-saving treatment, we feel that our lives are being
jeopardized by this omission. We demand that the conveners
of this meeting call us to the table. Our lives must not be
toyed with".

Mohammed Farouk, coordinator of the AIDS Alliance in
Nigeria, said the meeting constitutes "a calculated attempt
to deny PLWA continued existence. We call on the bodies
responsible to, as a matter of urgency, include all
stakeholders most especially people with HIV/AIDS, to be
part of this meeting".

The activists are demanding that organizers of the meeting:
- invite representatives of PLWHA, the media and civil
society to the Abuja meeting
- provide full records of its deliberations, including the
draft law that will be discussed at the meeting and
- commit themselves to ensuring that clauses such as
compulsory licensing, parallel importing and Bolar
exceptions that will allow access by PLWA in Nigeria to
cheap and affordable medicines are included in the draft bill

TAM is also calling on the National Action Committee on
AIDS (NACA), the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal
Ministry of Justice and other relevant agencies of the
federal government to ensure that the draft IP bill fully
protects Nigerians' interests.

"Any effort to draft legislation that affects the lives of
people living with HIV/AIDS must be seen to be open,
inclusive and consultative", said Omololu Falobi of
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria. "Conveners of
this meeting must demonstrate that they have interests of
PLWA at heart by ensuring full participation of critical
stakeholders, including the media and PLWA, in the
deliberations."

"We believe that the rights of PLWA to affordable care and
treatment should be protected by the Nigerian state", said
Bede Eziefule of the Centre for the Right to Health (CRH).
"Government must ensure that the rights of PLWHA to
life-saving treatment are assured and legally-protected."

TAM also called on other civil society groups to support
these demands by signing their names to the petition.

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For further information, please contact:

Olayide Akanni (Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria):
0802 3037 998

Rolake Nwagwu (AIDS Alliance Nigeria): 0803 3035 895

Bede Eziefule (Centre for the Right to Health):
0802 3330 995

Olayide Akanni
Email: [email protected]
On behalf of Treatment Action Movement (TAM) Nigeria