[Ip-health] Obama on access to medicines, HIV/AIDS

[Asia Russell]

Dear all

FYI, here is Barack Obama's global and domestic HIV/AIDS plan, with
the following text on access to medicines:

"Provide Access Through Trade:  Barack Obama believes that people in
developing countries living with
HIV/AIDS should have access to safe, affordable generic drugs to
treat HIV/AIDS.  He will break the
stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on
these life-saving drugs.  Obama supports the
rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost
generic medication to meet their pressing public
health needs under the WTO=92s Declaration on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
He also supports the adoption of humanitarian licensing policies that
ensure medications developed with U.S.
taxpayer dollars are available off-patent in developing countries."

Best

Asia


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BARACK OBAMA:  FIGHTING HIV/AIDS WORLDWIDE

=93We are all sick because of AIDS - and we are all tested by this
crisis. It is a test not only of our willingness to
respond, but of our ability to look past the artificial divisions and
debates that have often shaped that
response. When you go to places like Africa and you see this problem
up close, you realize that it's not a
question of either treatment or prevention =96 or even what kind of
prevention =96 it is all of the above. It is not
an issue of either science or values =96 it is both. Yes, there must be
more money spent on this disease. But
there must also be a change in hearts and minds, in cultures and
attitudes. Neither philanthropist nor scientist,
neither government nor church, can solve this problem on their own -
AIDS must be an all-hands-on-deck
effort.=94
  [Barack Obama, World AIDS Day Speech, Lake Forest, CA, 12/1/06]

BARACK OBAMA=92S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS

There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS,
including more than 1 million people in
the U.S., with nearly 8,000 people dying every day of AIDS.  Barack
Obama believes that we must do more to
fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as malaria and
tuberculosis.  In 2006, Obama traveled to Kenya
and, along with his wife Michelle, took an HIV/AIDS test to encourage
African men and women to be tested for
the disease.  Obama believes in working across party lines to combat
this epidemic and joined Senator Sam
Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote
greater investment in the global AIDS
battle.  As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in
the fight against AIDS.

HIV/AIDS IN AMERICA
Develop a National HIV/AIDS Strategy:  Obama has pledged that, in the
first year of his presidency, he will
develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS
strategy that includes all federal agencies.
The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase
access to care, and reduce HIV-related health
disparities.  His strategy will include measurable goals, timelines,
and accountability mechanisms.

Fix the Nation=92s Health Care System:  47 million Americans are
uninsured in this country.  Barack Obama is
committed to signing universal health care legislation by the end of
his first term in office that ensures all
Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage.
Obama=92s plan will save a typical American
family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing
affordable, comprehensive and portable
health coverage for every American; modernizing the U.S. health care
system to contain spiraling health care
costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting
prevention and strengthening public health to
prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.
His health plan will ensure that people
living with HIV have access to lifesaving treatment and care.

Fight Disparities:  HIV has hit some communities harder than others.
For example, while African-Americans
make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 49 percent of
new HIV/AIDS cases.  AIDS is the
leading cause of death in African-American women aged 25-34, and the
third leading cause of death in African-
American men in the same age group.  In 2005, 64 percent of women
living with HIV/AIDS were black.
Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing
differences in access to health coverage

Paid for by Obama for America
and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a
major role in addressing disparities.  He will
also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health
care through quality measurement and
reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient
navigation programs and diversification of
the health workforce.

Improve Quality of Life for Those Living with HIV/AIDS:  Obama is a
strong supporter of the Ryan White
Care Act (RWCA), which provides critical access to life-saving
treatment and care for over half a million low-
income Americans with HIV/AIDS.  The RWCA is one of the largest
sources of federal funds for primary
health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS.  The
bill was named after Ryan White, an Indiana
teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS helped educate the
nation.  Throughout the reauthorization
process of the RWCA, Obama worked closely with RWCA service
providers, the Chicago Department of
Public Health, and the Illinois Department of Public Health to
analyze and find ways to improve the program
for Illinois and for the nation.  Obama will continue to protect the
multifaceted care upon which RWCA
beneficiaries depend.

Assure Adequate and Safe Housing for Those Living With HIV:  Obama
supports increased funding for
Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) and other
pertinent housing programs.  These
programs aim to assure that adequate and safe housing is available
for all disabled and low-income people with
HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Expand Funding for Research:  Barack Obama will expand funding for
research, especially for prevention
options including a vaccine and microbicides.  Microbicides are a
class of products currently under
development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV
and other infections.  Obama led an
effort with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and others to introduce the
Microbicide Development Act, which
will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the
battle against AIDS.  In the United
States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled
over the last 20 years. Today, women
account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses.

Promote AIDS Prevention:  In addition to assuring access to
treatment, Obama believes we need to increase
the focus on preventing new infections.  We cannot keep pace with
treatment needs if we don=92t also focus on
prevention.  This means pursuing a strategy that relies on sound
science and builds on what works.  Obama
supports comprehensive sex education that is age-appropriate.  He
supports increasing federal appropriations for
science-based HIV prevention programs.  Obama supports the JUSTICE
Act, which would prevent transmission
of HIV within the incarcerated population.  He also supports
legislation that would lift the ban on federal
funding for needle exchange as a strategy to reduce HIV transmission
among injection drug users and their
partners and children.

Bring Medicaid Coverage to Low-Income, HIV-Positive Americans: Obama
is a co-sponsor of the Early
Treatment of HIV Act, which would provide Medicaid coverage to more
low-income, HIV-positive Americans.

GLOBAL HIV/AIDS
Reauthorize and Revise PEPFAR:  The U.S. has dramatically increased
funding for global HIV and AIDS
programs through the President=92s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR), but the program has faced
controversy.  Obama believes that our first priority should be to
reauthorize PEPFAR when it expires in 2008
and rewrite much of the bill to allow best practices =96 not ideology =96
to drive funding for HIV/AIDS programs.
In addition, Obama supports adding an additional $1 billion a year in
new money over the next five years to
strengthen and expand the program to Southeast Asia, India, and
Eastern Europe, where the pandemic is
expanding.

Increase Investments for HIV Treatment: Barack Obama is committed to
increasing U.S. investments in the
capacity building needed to ensure that poor countries are able to
develop the health care infrastructure

Paid for by Obama for America
necessary to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, promote basic health care,
reduce the spread of malaria and TB, and
prevent and, if necessary, contain the spread of avian flu and other
pandemics.

Increase Contribution to the Global Fund:  Obama supports increasing
U.S. contributions to the Global Fund
for AIDS, malaria, and TB so that our assistance is coordinated with
aid provided by other governments and
private donors and so that the burden on poor countries is reduced.

Provide Access Through Trade:  Barack Obama believes that people in
developing countries living with
HIV/AIDS should have access to safe, affordable generic drugs to
treat HIV/AIDS.  He will break the
stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on
these life-saving drugs.  Obama supports the
rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost
generic medication to meet their pressing public
health needs under the WTO=92s Declaration on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
He also supports the adoption of humanitarian licensing policies that
ensure medications developed with U.S.
taxpayer dollars are available off-patent in developing countries.

Achieve the Millennium Development Goals:  As president, Barack Obama
will double U.S. foreign
assistance from $25 billion per year to $50 billion per year to
ensure the U.S. does its share to meet the
Millennium Development Goals, including halving the number of people
who die of tuberculosis and/or are
affected by malaria.  In 2005, Obama cosponsored the International
Cooperation to Meet the Millennium
Development Goals Act.  Barack Obama will target this new spending
toward strategic goals, including helping
the world=92s weakest states to build healthy and educated communities,
reduce poverty, develop markets, and
generate wealth.  He will also help weak states to fight terrorism,
halt the spread of deadly weapons, and build
the health care infrastructure needed to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS
as well as detect and contain outbreaks of
avian influenza.  Obama will dedicate as much funding to HIV/AIDS as
possible =96 without cutting into other
critical foreign assistance programs =96 to ensure a comprehensive
fight against this global pandemic.

Reduce Debt of Developing Nations:  Developing nations are amassing
tremendous amounts of foreign debt
that limit their economic development and make investments in public
health, education, and infrastructure
extremely difficult.  Debt in Sub-Saharan Africa stands at $235
billion, 44 percent of the region=92s gross
domestic product and an increase of 33 percent since 1990.  Obama
would work with other developed nations
and multilateral institutions to cancel remaining onerous debt while
pushing reforms to keep developing nations
from slipping into fiscal ruin.  Obama also would better coordinate
trade and development policies to use the
full range of America=92s economic power to help developing nations
reap the benefits of the global trading
system.  Obama cosponsored the Multilateral Debt Relief Act of 2005
to provide multilateral debt relief to
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.


--
Asia Russell
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
email: asia@healthgap.org
tel: +1 267 475-2645
http://www.healthgap.org