Policy wonk and rock singer: fighting for the same cause

by Rohit Malpani

As an Oxfam policy advisor on access to medicines, I believe governments have to take decisive action to reduce the price of new medicines to treat HIV and AIDS that are needed when HIV positive individuals develop resistance to first line treatments. These 2nd and 3rd line treatments, which are patented by big pharmaceutical companies, often cost five to ten times more than 1st line treatments for AIDS. 1st line treatments are far less expensive because they are not patented, which means generic manufacturers can compete to produce affordable versions of older medicines.

So I was somewhat heartened by an announcement by the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, to kick-start the opening ceremony of the AIDS Conference last night, where he pledged to renegotiate the prices of new antiretroviral medicines. Multinational pharmaceutical companies charge high prices for new antiretroviral medicines in Mexico because it is a middle-income country. Yet nearly half of Mexico’s population lives under the poverty line, and high prices for new antiretroviral medicines mean many HIV positive Mexicans cannot get the treatment they need today.

Of course, an announcement is just a first step. The Mexican government will face difficult challenges to negotiate lower prices. Big pharmaceutical companies are fiercely resistant to engage in any price negotiations with middle-income countries. Other middle income countries, such as Brazil and Thailand, have struggled for years to reduce the costs of these key medicines.

Yet these changes are possible when you have passionate advocates reminding the world of why universal access matters.

This morning, Oxfam held a successful press conference with Oxfam policy advisors and Annie Lennox – our ambassador this week in Mexico – who reminded the media and attendees about the need to hold governments to account for achieving universal access by 2010.

Aids activist, Oxfam global ambassador and singer Annie Lennox poses in front of giant letters spelling “access”, in support for campaigners’ call to achieve universal access to treatment by 2010 for HIV-infected people. Credit: David Viñuales/Oxfam

Annie spoke eloquently about the costs and consequences of inaction, especially as it affects women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. More importantly, she spoke of what is possible, in telling the story of one HIV positive girl she met during her last trip to South Africa, who, upon receiving treatment, has recovered from the brink of death and is now leading a healthy and happy life today. It is a story that is not being told often enough.

Often the urgent messages we wish to deliver as policy advisors are lost behind statistics, cliché phrases and arcane policy discussions held behind closed doors. At such a critical juncture in turning the tide against the AIDS pandemic, the spirited and bold speech from Annie, and the many other excellent speeches, demonstrations and discussions from the first day, are a refreshing boost to defeating a disease that has afflicted millions of poor people for far too long.

Oxfam sings of and censures a scandal of willful neglect

by Mark Fried

DENIED! screamed the headline on the media advisory I and Oscar Alarcón were handing around the press room this morning to drum up interest in the Oxfam news conference scheduled for noon. Oscar works for Rostros y Voces (Faces and Voices) a Mexican agency which is in the process of joining Oxfam International.

“It works,” the advisory continued. “Women want it. It is the only primary prevention method for women in existence. Yet 15 years after coming on to the market, it is largely unavailable and too expensive for most women to buy.”

Have you guessed what “it” is? To make sure the journalists got it, we handed them one in a soft little plastic package about twice the size of the condoms that are ubiquitous here at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City: a female condom, the simple device that could save the lives of millions. The failure of rich country donors and UN agencies to promote the female condom is the “scandal of willful neglect” we denounced today.

Just before the actual news conference began, a dozen participants from the Oxfam International Youth Project gathered outside the media centre, along with Oxfam staff and the exciting AIDS education group Dance for Life. With the sort of panache only Oxfam youth can bring, they performed what will undoubtedly hit the top forty at this conference: “Give Female Condoms a Chance,” to the tune of that John Lennon favourite. The cameras loved it.

On the dais Mary Robinson, Honorary President of Oxfam International and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, eloquently denounced this “scandal born of ignorance and intertia.” Farah Karimi, executive director of Oxfam Novib, too made a powerful plea for “the only method that women have to protect themselves.”

But best of all was Gladys Chiwome, from Women and AIDS Support Network in Zimbabwe. Gladys knows what female condoms mean to poor women: the difference between life and death.

No doubt a good campaign day here in Mexico for the entire Oxfam team.

You can read all about it in the new Oxfam report, “Failing Women, Withholding Protection: 15 years lost in making the female condom available”.

Oxfam in Mexico to push for universal access

By Robert Fox

Mexico City abounds with life, but this week it´s even more abuzz. More than 25,000 people from around the world have come together to demand universal action now on HIV/AIDS and the energy is electric.

Activists and service providers, funders and researchers, big Pharma and sex workers, presidents and hairstylists have converged for the 17th International AIDS Conference, the first time the conference is being held in Latin America. The formal program kicks off this evening (Sunday, August 3rd) with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon along with Bills Clinton and Gates and thousands of the real heroes of the struggle to rid the world of AIDS — people living with HIV and care givers, allies and advocates who support them.

Oxfam´s delegation is large and diverse, bringing together courageous and creative partner organizations from Africa, Asia and the Americas. As well, we have staff from a number of Oxfam affiliates and 17 dynamite young women and men from 14 countries who are tackling HIV/AIDS in their home communities — active members of the Oxfam International Youth Partnership.

We`re here to link and to learn, to profile our work and to influence the outcome of the conference. For the past few days we´ve been prepping and planning, setting up displays, distributing materials and organizing stunts to draw the world´s attention to our key message: more can and must be done urgently to meet the commitment to assure universal access by 2010 to prevention, treatment, care and support for all those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

We are focusing our efforts on strengthening public health systems, assuring access to affordable generic medicines and giving women greater power to protect themselves by having ready access to free, effective female condoms.

Annie Lennox is here to help get our message out. She’s a delight — smart, knowledgeable, committed; a passionate spokesperson and great media magnet who has worked for years to build public support for action on AIDS.

The truth be told, any global event of this size is a bit of a zoo. But it´s also a critically important opportunity to have an impact, spurring governments North and South to live up to their promises and helping galvanize the power of mobilized, informed citizens to end prejudice, stigma and discrimination.

Working with our partners and allies, Oxfam will be doing all we can this week to make a difference.