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ABOUT GTAC

Welcome to the Global Treatment Access Campaign

Global Treatment Action Campaign (GTAC) is a global network for communication and organization towards access to essential medications for HIV and other diseases. Around the world, the campaigns vary. The core issues remain the same: exorbitant drug prices, crippling debt, and a lack of sustainable public health strategies to meet the needs of those most affected by the AIDS epidemic, including women, children and the poor. Global Treatment Action Campaign is committed to working on these issues by creating and supporting partnerships between first- and third-world activist groups, and providing action tools and updates on current campaigns around the world.

BACKGROUND
An estimated 34 million people are infected with HIV. Of these, ninety-five percent cannot access the costly medications that treat HIV and AIDS-related illnesses. Multinational drug companies charge unaffordable prices for their medications, often with the support of wealthy governments and politicians. To date, drug company initiatives designed to deliver medications to the developing world have been unsustainable, stop-gap measures.

Grass-roots third world activists have mounted a strong and vocal campaign criticizing these price-gouging policies. On July 9, 2000, on the eve of the XIII International AIDS Conference, five thousand people joined together in the streets of Durban, South Africa, in the Global AIDS March for Treatment Access. This march, the largest AIDS protest organized by civil society, was organized by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a South African AIDS activist organization launched in 1998. Co-sponsoring the march was Health Global Access Project (GAP), a U.S. coalition of organizations and individuals advocating for debt cancellation and dedicated to increasing access to essential medications and technologies in countries facing an escalating AIDS epidemic.

The Durban conference focused unprecedented attention on global inequities in access to life-saving medications, particularly those used to treat HIV and its complications. In the wake of the conference, advocates from around the world, including activists from Health GAP, Treatmtent Action Campaign and ACT UP Paris, met to determine next steps for a coordinated campaign. GTAC came out of this meeting as a way to maintain and strengthen the network.

Partial List of Health GAP members:

Treatment Action Campaign
http://www.tac.org.za

ACT UP Philadelphia
http://www.critpath.org/actup/

ACT UP New York
http://www.actupny.org

Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
http://www.iglhrc.org

Essential Action
http://www.essentialaction.org

Partial List of Health GAP allies:

Médecins Sans Frontières
http://www.accessmed-msf.org | http://www.msf.org

ACT UP Paris
http://www.actupp.org/

ABOUT HEALTH GAP
BACKGROUND: HEALTH GLOBAL ACCESS PROJECT COALTION

The HealthGAP Coalition was founded in March, 1999 by Alan Berkman, M.D., a New York City physician who treats low-income people with AIDS. Founding organizations include ACT UP/Philadelphia, ACT UP/New York, Search for a Cure, Ralph Nader's Consumer Project on Technology, AIDS Treatment News, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and Public Citizen's Citizen Trade Campaign. Numerous other activist, research, lobbying, and service provider organizations have now joined the effort.

HealthGAP made an immediate impact upon its founding with loud, public demonstrations against US Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore. The group demonstrated against the candidate's strong support of price-gouging drug companies that were blocking access to essential medication for people with AIDS in Africa and around the world. Spurred by the work of HealthGAP, the Clinton administration issued an executive order in Spring, 2000 reversing its policy of threatening developing countries with trade sanctions if they attempt to implement compulsory licensing to manufacture AIDS drugs for their citizens.

The HealthGAP Coalition has served as a national and international point of contact and coordination for a growing range of efforts by advocates worldwide. This collaboration has played a significant role in changing US policy on the South Africa Medicines Act and in the adoption of access to HIV medications as a human right in Brazil, Columbia, and Costa Rica.

HealthGAP Coalition members and allies oppose government and pharmaceutical industry policies that interfere with efforts by countries to increase access to affordable, life-saving drugs. Allies have included Doctors Without Borders/Medicins Sans Frontieres, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC, South Africa), ACT UP Paris (France), Health Action International, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (Thailand), Agua Buena Human Rights Association (Costa Rica) and Grupo de Incentivo a Vida (GIV, Brazil).

Background: Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa
Fighting for affordable treatment for people with HIV

The primary aim of The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is to raise public understanding about issues surrounding the availability and affordability of many HIV/AIDS treatments. This includes treatment for the majority of opportunistic infections. TAC campaigns against the view that AIDS is a 'death sentence'.

TAC was launched on 10 December, 1998, International Human Rights Day.

It is estimated that as many as 4 million South Africans are infected with HIV. It is the biggest health crisis facing this country in recent history. The consequences of this disease do not only affect those who are HIV+, but also their loved ones, their friends, their children and those who will become HIV+ in the future. This implies that the vast majority of South Africans are personally affected by the virus.

Given this critical situation, it is essential that South African society and government combats HIV/AIDS rationally and competently. There are treatments available to increase the life expectancy of HIV+ people and to reduce the risk of mothers with HIV transferring the virus to their newborn children. Unfortunately, these treatments are unaffordable for the vast majority of people living in this country and throughout the rest of Africa. Much of this has to do with over-pricing, draconian patent laws and excessive profiteering by the pharmaceutical industry.

OBJECTIVES

1. Ensure access to affordable and quality treatment for people with HIV/AIDS.

2. Prevent and eliminate new HIV infections.

3. Improve the affordability and quality of health-care access for all.

HOW WE ACHIEVE OUR OBJECTIVES