DATE=5/16/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=AIDS EPIDEMIC IN AFRICA (CQ)
NUMBER=6-11820
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: The American press is applauding a recent
announcement by five international pharmaceutical
firms that they will drastically cut the price of AIDS
drugs to Africa, where the disease has infected 34-
million people.
However, most newspapers remain skeptical that this
decision alone can reverse the extremely serious
health problem that AIDS presents for developing
nations. We get a sampling now from ___________ in
today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: For several years, doctors in the United States
and other wealthy, Western nations have had increasing
success in treating men and women infected with the
sexually-transmitted AIDS virus. The disease is still
incurable, but people afflicted with AIDS have been
staying alive much longer than they would have 10 or
more years ago, when techniques of treating the virus
were much less advanced. Patients in the developed
world have benefited from what is called "an AIDS
cocktail" -- a combination of drugs that dramatically
reduces the effects of the virus. The multiple-drug
treatment is very expensive, but it has allowed many
AIDS-infected people to live fairly normal lives for
many years after the onset of their infection.
In Africa, however, where AIDS has reached pandemic
proportions, scarcely any governments or AIDS victims
can afford these drugs. There also is a shortage of
skilled medical personnel to administer "AIDS
cocktails." Nevertheless, the news that major drug
firms are cutting their prices for Africa has been
greeted with enthusiasm.
We begin our sampling of editorial comment in New York
(on Long Island), where Newsday is guardedly
optimistic about the news.
VOICE: They had to be muscled [forcefully
persuaded] into submission, but the decision by
five pharmaceutical companies to slash the price
of ... drugs in the Third World marks important
progress in the fight to stem the plague that is
laying waste to sub-Saharan Africa. Cheaper
drugs alone won't solve the daunting problems in
that region, where 11-point-five-million people
have died of AIDS and an additional 55-hundred
succumb each day. But it will help. And
helping is imperative on a continent where 34-
million people are infected with H-I-V [human
immunodeficiency virus, the scientific name for
AIDS]. /// OPT /// ... Poor countries got the
ball rolling by encouraging the production of
generic versions of AIDS drugs, in violation of
U-S patents. Then President ... Clinton made it
clear in an executive order that he wouldn't
help the pharmaceutical giants protect their
patents in African countries seeking cheaper
drugs. The specter of low-cost generics
produced for the Third World flooding western
markets led to the agreement to slash prices.
/// END OPT /// ... Some accommodation must be
found that will allow drug companies to remain
profitable without pricing medicines beyond the
reach of people who need them.
TEXT: For the view from Florida, we check this
editorial in The Miami Herald.
VOICE: Those fighting AIDS got some powerful
allies this week when five of the world's
largest drug companies agreed to slash the price
... for people living in poor nations. That
means millions of people throughout Africa and
the Caribbean Basin living with ... AIDS, will
now get access to those life-saving drugs. ...
The companies' agreement is just a first step
that must be matched with the appropriate
mechanisms to ensure that victims get an
effective therapy. Trained medical people need
to be in place to help those with H-I-V follow a
complex drug regimen. ... The five companies'
generosity did not come easily. It took more
than three years of pleadings to get them
finally to agree to cut their prices. Some
countries in Africa may see their agreement as
too late and insufficient. They want the
companies to allow generic copies of the drugs.
A day's supply of the drug [anti-AIDS] A-Z-T
that sells for 10 dollars in the United States
can be bought from generics makers for a little
more than one dollar.
TEXT: In Georgia, The Atlanta Constitution praises
the move also, but characterizes it as "only a small
step" in the battle against AIDS.
VOICE: Even with the drastic price cuts, these
drugs may run two dollars a day for a single
patient, far more than most African patients or
their governments' public health budgets can
afford. That's why these companies must brace
themselves for generic competition whether they
cut prices or not. Horrifying as Africa's AIDS
statistics are, with 11-million dead and another
32-million H-I-V-infected, it is but the
epicenter of this catastrophe. Its
destabilizing effects also are being felt
increasingly in South and Southeast Asia, in ...
the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe --
all of which should suggest, even to the most
obtuse of the U-S Congress' isolationists, that
AIDS is a potential national-security threat.
TEXT: In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is
also concerned about the complexity of administering
the drugs in Africa, once the cost issue has been
resolved.
VOICE: ... Effective therapy requires more than
affordable drugs; the protocol is complex and
must be followed with painstaking care not only
by patients, but also by trained therapists.
Affordable drugs won't mean much unless money is
spent to train doctors, nurses and other
practitioners and to educate the public about
AIDS treatment and H-I-V prevention.
TEXT: For its part, The New York Times shares many of
the same concerns as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
VOICE: Cheaper drugs by themselves will likely
have little immediate impact. There are still
far too few doctors and nurses in these regions,
and health care facilities are hopelessly
inadequate. The powerful drug cocktails that
can prolong life cast as much as 15-thousand
dollars a year for a single American patient.
Even reducing prices by 90 percent would leave
the drugs unaffordable for most Africans. ...
The drug companies' announcement came a day
after the Clinton administration issued a long-
overdue executive order saying the United States
would not interfere with African countries that
violate American patent law to provide AIDS
drugs more cheaply, either by licensing local
companies to produce generic versions or by
importing lower-cost drugs. Resources and
political will in many afflicted nations are
still inadequate. ... But the price decision by
the drug companies is cause for hope.
TEXT: Finally, in Washington state, The Seattle Times
voices a common fear, despite the encouraging news of
the price cuts.
VOICE: For dirt-poor countries, this is a ray
of hope, but not a panacea. Even reduced prices
are not truly affordable, and the medical and
social infrastructure to make the treatments
effective is almost nonexistent. One popular
combination of [anti-AIDS drugs] ... might be
available for two dollars per day, but it is
most effective with [an added ingredient] ...
that costs another five to seven dollars per
day. Suddenly the costs are beyond most
incomes. ... Africa has not escaped the social
upheaval that hit Thailand and other places with
an AIDS epidemic. The pursuit of disease-free
sex partners made targets of ever-younger
females. The tragedy just compounds itself.
Africa needs help, and a meager ration is coming
with AIDS drugs.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment about the recent announcement that big drug-
producing companies intend to reduce the prices they
charge for anti-AIDS drugs in the developing world.
NEB/ANG/WTW/gm
16-May-2000 17:31 PM EDT (16-May-2000 2131 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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