For Immediate Release, 02 JULY 2002

The Agua Buena Human Rights Association Wants to Know...

WHAT WILL "BARCELONA 2002" DO FOR 150,000 PEOPLE IN LATIN AMERICAN AND THE CARIBBEAN WHO NEED ANTI-RETROVIRALS NOW?????

1) Organizers of the Barcelona Conference have made no effort to include the most marginalized of the region's populations and support these individuals in playing a significant role in this conference.

2) The Region's "AIDS establishment" continues with "business as usual" while thousands die each month.

3) Most Multi-national pharmaceutical companies continue to charge outrageous prices for their products in the region. Prices for ARV's are over $5000 per year in countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

4) The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and UNAIDS have failed to take a significant and aggressive leadership role in promoting anti-retroviral access in the region.

5) CIPLA's products now cost under $500 yearly for most anti-retroviral cocktails but in Latin America, CIPLA's products are not even registered. What Agency will promote and facilitate the registration and distribution of these products?

6) The Global Fund has given $66 million over five years to two of the region's wealthiest nation's, Chile and Argentina, but nothing to countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Belize, or the Dominican Republic.

7) Governments and National AIDS programs of most of the region's poorest countries such as Peru, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Belize, and the Dominican Republic continue to deny the basic human right of access to adequate medical treatment to People Living with HIV/AIDS in the region.

8) Brazil, which has the potential to provide an immediate solution in the region, and thereby save thousands of lives, is not willing to sell its low cost high quality generic anti-retroviral products to neighboring countries.

9) The countries of the region are afraid to seek alternatives for production and distribution of inexpensive quality level drugs, because of fear of consequences imposed by rich countries. The right to life must always take precedence over international commercial agreements!

All of the facts stated above represent a FAILURE on the part of the region's AIDS Establishment, and the Barcelona conference organizers, to look for meaningful solutions, which require a combined effort on the part of National AIDS programs, International Agencies of Cooperation, and producers of both generic and brand name anti-retroviral medications. This FAILURE results in the unnecessary deaths each month of thousands of the region's poorest and most marginalized people, including women, children, and gay men.

WHAT WILL BARCELONA 2002 DO TO CHANGE THIS????

More information:

Agua Buena Human Rights Association, Richard Stern, Ph.D., Guilermo Murillo

San Jos=E9, Costa Rica

Tel/Fax 506-234-2411, www.aguabuena.org, rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr