Meet the Expert: Socio-Economic Determinants

The Role of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in relation to the WTO Anand Grover, HIV/AIDS Lawyers Collective, India

Anand Grover touched briefly on the potential impact of the November meeting of the WTO, when the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) covering pharmaceutical products will be considered. Also available at this very interesting session was an article, written by Anand, explaining TRIPS in the light of the US challenge to Brazil's use of generic drugs. It is an issue that has huge ramifications for the epidemic and its future treatment, and Anand maintains that the full impacts of earlier TRIPS agreements have not yet been fully felt. This is because some aspects have not yet been implemented. The question of whether intellectual property rights should be subordinated to people's health has not been provided for in TRIPS. Historically large pharmaceutical corporations using the US government delegation to WTO negotiations as their mouthpiece have driven such decisions. The limited access to drugs to treat opportunistic infections as well as the availability of antiretroviral treatment may be severely affected if there is no review of the TRIPS agreement coming up for discussion at the WTO next month. Grover pointed out that African countries were pushing for a review of the agreement while most resource rich countries, led by the United States' were opposed to a review. NGOs and CBOs in the region have to get cracking to influence their Governments to support the African call if they wished to ensure increased access. This applies to all categories of drugs including those for STIs treatment, an essential component of an HIV prevention program. Making a case for 40 following the Brazilian example in making free ARV therapy available to all people who needed it, he argued that Brazil was actually spending less on providing ARV therapy than it would have on the combined costs of treating OIs and hospitalisation - USD 450 million in the latter case as compared to USD 400 million annually. Brazil had drastically reduced costs by using a two pronged strategy - reducing drug costs by encouraging local production; and ensuring accessibility and affectivity by placing distribution in the hands of the communities themselves. This is both desirable and doable in resource scarce regions in the Asia Pacific.