Abbott burns another bridge

30 July 2007 – for immediate release

In 2000, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance introduced a large scale home and community care programme in India that allowed thousands of vulnerable children in Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to be reached by the AIDS response. The programme was set up by the Alliance Secretariat in India and included three Indian lead partners, MAMTA, PWDS and VMM.

Support from the Abbott Fund’s Step Forward programme was used to part fund the continuation of this work, and this has increased the scale of the programme and led to new innovations. Today the programme reaches over 40,000 people directly affected by HIV, and has acted as a model for other programmes across India and the rest of the Alliance.

Earlier this year Abbott applied commercial sanctions in response to Thailand’s lawful issuing of a compulsory license for generic antiretrovirals. The Alliance joined Act-Up Paris, Médecins Sans Frontières and many others in strongly criticising this measure, which was designed to intimidate governments from low and middle income countries that might be considering the use of compulsory licensing as a way to ensure their citizens rights of access to medicines for treating HIV. In response to this criticism, the Abbott Fund has decided that as of the end of 2007 it will exclude the Alliance’s International Secretariat from the funding it provides for the Alliance India programme.

We appreciate that the Abbott Fund has agreed to continue directly funding the Alliance’s lead partners in India, and in doing so avoids a major disruption in the lives of the thousands of people affected by HIV that are reached by the programme.

The Alliance continues to hold the view that the HIV epidemic can only be overcome by concerted and sustained actions by a very wide variety of actors across the government, non-government and private sectors. We call on Abbott to stop acting unilaterally on those who believe that implementation of the TRIPS[1] agreement can help save many lives, and to engage more constructively in the response to HIV. We vow to continue supporting community responses to HIV through both programming and advocacy.

Ends

[1] Trade Related Intellectual Properties.

Editor’s notes

  1. Established in 1993, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance) is a global partnership of national organisations working to support community action on AIDS in developing countries. These national partners help local community groups and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to take action on AIDS, and are supported by technical expertise, policy work and fundraising carried out at the UK-based international secretariat and across the Alliance.
  2. The Alliance has worked with community organisations from over 40 countries, provided financial support to over 3,000 projects (implemented by over 2,000 community and faith-based groups). Expenditure in 2006 alone was over US $58 million (£30 million).
  3. More information about the work of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance is available from www.aidsalliance.org. Alternatively, and to arrange interviews, please contact Simon Moore. T: 01273 718744. E: smoore@aidsalliance.org or Rhian Evans. T: 01273 718961. E: revans@aidsalliance.org