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PRESS CENTER
GTAC & HEALTH GAP COALITION PRESS RELEASES
Year 2002 | Year 2001 | Year 2000 | Year 1999
- August 12, 2002 (Manhattan) The AIDS activist groups ACT UP and Health GAP, who have been leading campaigns demanding multinational corporations like Coca Cola for AIDS treatment for African employees, offered provisional support for today's announcement from De Beers Consolidated Mines, and Anglo-American's recent announcement, committing the companies to treating its HIV positive workers. Activists announce a Global Day of Protest against corporations denying AIDS drugs. Press Statement
- JULY 11, 2002 (Barcelona) Speech by Zackie Achmat of Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa) at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. Read speech online
- July 10, 2002 (Barcelona) AIDS activists protest Coke's deadly neglect of workers with AIDS in developing countries. Groups call for "Global Day of Action"—coordinated protests in the US, EU, Africa and southeast Asia. Press Statement
- JULY 8, 2002 (Barcelona) Health GAP and ACT UP press for a plan to back up WHO's most recent analysis of their Accelerating Access Initiative and its announcement of support for scaling up treatment access to get HIV treatment to 3 million people in the developing world by 2005. Press Statement
- JULY 7, 2002 (Barcelona) MSF and Health GAP accused wealthy nations of willful neglect that is costing millions of lives. Before a joint satellite meeting called "Time to Treat," activists focused attention on the failure of most governments to deliver on promises of lower cost antiretroviral treatment, particularly the world's wealthiest nations who have failed to fund the fight against AIDS. This represents an enormous political failure on the part of developing and rich country governments.
Press Statement
- JULY 2, 2002 (Barcelona) The Agua Buena Human Rights Association asks what will "Barcelona 2002" do for 150,000 people in Latin American and the Caribbean who need antiretrovirals now. Press Statement
- JULY 1, 2002 (Barcelona) Health GAP paper in response to assertion that anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for people in poor countries is not cost-effective. "Cost Effectivness will Cost Lives
- JUNE 29, 2002 (Barcelona) ACT UP Paris to G8: "Where is the ten billion dollars?" A year after the Group of Eight Industrialized Countries announced the "historic" creation of a Global Fund to fight AIDS, the contribution of the richest countries does not reach one tenth of the goal set forth by Annan. Press Statement
- 30 JUNE 2002 (New York) AIDS Activists Target Coca-Cola at New York Gay Pride Parade to demand Coke pay for AIDS drugs for workers in poor countries. ACT UP New York Press Release
- JUNE 27, 2002 Health GAP reviews U.S. proposal for WTO rules on exporting generic version of patented drugs. The production-for-export specifications pressed by the U.S. seek to narrow the scope of the production-for-export solution promised at Doha. Health GAP Paper
- JUNE 27, 2002 (Geneva) AIDS activists monitoring the development of the second Guidelines for Proposals document for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria submit revisions to the Fund's Board of Directors. Activists claim the current draft fails to address glaring errors in the first call for proposals. Lack of clarity in the original Guidelines for Proposals played a part in assuring that only a handful of applications would request and be granted money for HIV treatment programs. Open Letter to the Global Fund Secretariat
- JUNE 26, 2002 (Washington, DC) MSF letter sent to Bush in advance of the G8 Summit addresses critical health issues: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria pandemics, other less visible neglected diseases, and in particular the crisis in access to effective and affordable essential medicines for the treatment of these major killers in developing countries. Letter to Bush
- JUNE 25, 2002 (Washington, DC) Ahead of G8 Summit, Africa Action Deplores White House Announcements on Africa. Bush described as "Anti-African" and U.S. policies "A Charade". Press Statement
- JUNE 25, 2002 (Washington, DC) On the eve of the G8 Summit in Canada, the Global AIDS Alliance today issued a briefing which states that even though G8 leaders plan to meet with African leaders, the leaders the wealthiest countries are effectively "turning their backs" on the AIDS crisis in impoverished countries. Press Statement | Report Online
- JUNE 19, 2002 (Washington, DC) AIDS activists protest Bush at record-breaking Republican fundraiser. Activists denounced the global AIDS plan President Bush which announced this morning in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. They chanted that the plan was a hoax, as no new money was being proposed for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Press Statement
- JUNE 17, 2002 (Washington, DC) AIDS activists hold rally against President Bush recycling damaged goods in lead up to G8 meeting: NO NEW MONEY, NO DRUGS FOR FAMILIES WITH AIDS. Activists denounce Bush sabotaging a bipartisan effort that would have made a substantial new U.S. contribution in 2002 to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Press Advisory
- JUNE 17, 2002 Health GAP paper on President Bush's actions to derail a bipartisan Senate effort that had been expected to net at least $500 million in emergency funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. "Sen. Frist's Bait And Switch And The Bush Unfund"
- JUNE 12, 2002 (Manhattan) ACT UP New York crash Global Business Council gala to demand Coca-Cola and other multinational corporations pay for treatment for workers living with HIV/AIDS. Activists disrupt ceremong, attended by Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, and other dignataria by land, and by sea. Press Statement
- MAY 2002 Health GAP launches a campaign against Coca-Cola for refusing to pay for AIDS treatment for its vast African workforce. Health GAP Position Paper
- May 27, 2002 (Paris) ACT UP Paris assert Pascal Lamy, the European trade representative, who presented himself as the spearhead of the fight for access to medicines, is finally returning to the bosom of Big Pharma. Activists point to the EC proposals at the TRIPS Council pertaining to rights of nations to export generics to countries lacking the capacity for local production. Press Statement
- May 24, 2002 (Kiev) MSF criticized an agreement signed between four multinational pharmaceutical companies and the Ukrainian government to reduce prices of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS patients. MSF and the Ukrainian AIDS activists called upon the government to improve access to the most affordable HIV/AIDS drugs by swiftly registering generic versions and allowing them on the Ukrainian market. Press Statement
- MAY 24, 2002 (Harare) Zimbabwe's Minister of Justice, P. A. Chinamasa declared a Period of Emergency in order to override antiretroviral drug patents. The declaration is effective for six months. Medicins Sans Frontieres estimates that this action will lower the price of a first-line triple therapy from US$1,168 to $412. NGO Statements: Treatment Action Campaign (SA) | Health GAP | : Médecins Sans Frontières
- 15 MAY 2002 (Geneva) May 11, 2002 marked the second anniversary of the "Accelerating Access" initiative, launched by UNAIDS in a partnership with several UN agencies (WHO, FNUAP, UNICEF and the World Bank) and five pharmaceutical companies (Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo SmithKline, Merck & Co., and Hoffman-La Roche). ACT UP Paris reviews the initiative's progress and the problems, concluding "Accelerating Access" serves pharmaceutical companies public relations needs more than the needs of the vast number of people with AIDs without access to treatment. ACT UP Paris statement
- May 20, 2002 (Washington, DC) On the eve of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's trip to Africa, more than 100 civil society organizations from across the U.S. and Africa have signed a letter urging a new U.S. policy approach to Africa's development challenges. The letter calls for: (1) the cancellation of all of Africa's illegitimate foreign debt; and (2) increased U.S. funding for poverty reduction, particularly to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Letter to O'Neill
- May 11, 2002 (Paris) ACT UP Paris releases report on the progress and shortcomings of the "Accelerating Access" initiative. Report on Accelerating Access
GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TB, AND MALARIA
- 15 MAY 2002 (DC) The Kerry/Frist Bill authorizes a $1 billion increase in U.S. spending for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in 2003. The United States will need to contribute far more to the Global Fund for 2004 than what is currently contained in this bill. Press statement
- 24 APRIL 2002 (Manhattan) Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria Announces first Grant Recipients--Activists demand focus on AIDS treatment, increased funds to meet overwhelming need.
- May 6, 2002 Health GAP calls on the Brazilian Ministry of Health to revise immediately its policies and begin permitting the purchase of Brazil1s antiretrovrials by Central and South American countries. Letter to Brazil Ministry of Health
- 24 APRIL 2002 (DC) US Congress likely to approve major new contribution to Global Fund to fight AIDS TB and Malaria. US Senators Specter and Durbin are correcting the damage done to the Global Fund when President Bush made paltry inaugural donation of $200 million last year. By setting the entry bar for all donors so low, the White House hobbled the fund at its launch. Press statement
- 17 APRIL 2002 (Manhattan) AIDS activists target Coca-Cola's annual shareholder meeting for refusing HIV/AIDS treatment for workers and their dependents in Africa. Coke's policy excludes all but the smallest fraction of African employees with access to treatment. Rally press advisory |
Health GAP Floor Statements
- 10 APRIL 2002 (Washington, DC) Hundreds of activists, Danny Glover, members of Congress rally against global AIDS disaster declaring time is up for Congressional action. Activists demand Congress: Donate the Dollars, Treat the People, and Drop the Debt. Rally Sponsors: ACT UP, Health GAP, Jubilee USA Network, Artists for a New South Africa. rally photos |
rally photos
- 10 APRIL 2002 (Geneva) Health GAP comments regarding the inclusion of antiretrovirals (ARVs) and the WHO process for updating the model list of essential drugs (EDL). The WHO Model List of Essential Drugs is updated every two years. The next meeting of the expert Committee will be held on 15-19 April 2002 at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. Health GAP comments
- January 29, 2002 (Johannesburg) TAC and MSF import generic antiretrovirals from Brazil in defiance of patent abuse. members of the Treatment Action Campaign, (TAC) returned to South Africa from Brazil carrying generic drugs manufactured for use in an AIDS treatment program in Khayelitsha. At a press conference today, TAC and MSF explained that the drugs carried from Brazil were the second shipment of Brazilian drugs and that as of today more than 50 people are already taking the Brazilian medicines in Khayelitsha. Statements
- JANUARY 28, 2002 (Geneva) NGOs present views on issue of exports of medical technologies under the WTO TRIPS rules for patents to members of the TRIPS Council. Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health instructed the Council for TRIPS to find a "solution" to difficulties in using compulsory licenses when countries have insufficient or no manufacturing capacity. Joint letter from Consumer Project on Technology, Essential Action, Medicines Sans Frontieres, Oxfam International, Health GAP Coalition, and the Third World Network to the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Council. NGO Letter on Compulsory Licensing and Exports
- January 25, 2002 (Paris) ACT UP Paris calls upon the WHO to demonstrate commitment on the role of the Global Fund and to advocate that a minimum of 30% of Global Fund financing be devoted to purchase of HIV medications. Press Statement
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