The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement establishes minimum standards for the protection of patents and other forms of intellectual property rights in the fields of technology, including pharmaceuticals.
Under Article 7, for instance, the agreement aims among other things, to promote intellectual property in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations. It is such provisions that Ugandan activists want the US to look at as they negotiate with the LDCs.
“It is not a moral obligation for the US; it is rather a legal obligation within the human rights framework—the US has a global contract with partner states like Uganda, thanks to Article 66 in the TRIPS agreement [which states that once partner states show a need, they should put in a duly motivated request and that is it,” Mulumba said.
Martin Luther Munu, a programme officer at the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiation Institute (SEATINI) said under the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda, which the US agreed to, a clause on special and differential treatment was inserted.
“This clause provides for the treatment of countries according to their levels of development. So the framework of negotiations should be cognizant of the fact that some countries lack certain capacities and have constraints to produce these medicines.”
“The request for the extension by LDCs is in recognition of the fact that the challenges that these poor countries face cannot be addressed within 10 years only.”
Dianah Nanjego, the senior advocacy officer at the Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET) noted that medicine is one of the rights that human beings wherever they are—US or in the LDCs—should have.
“Denying people this right to medicine is retrogressive and it will not lead us anywhere and we will only go back to where we started in 1994.”
“For the US government to tell us that 10 years is what the LDCs can get after all the effort that they have made in supporting and working with Uganda and other countries we feel cheated.”
“From where we are coming from, we are saying that it is good that we have seen that medicines can work, especially when you look at HIV.”
“We know that the medicines being given to our patients are being used as prevention and if we are denying people access to such medicines we are simply saying we are not preventing diseases like HIV.”
“From where we are coming from, we are saying it is our right as Uganda, it is our right as human beings to have access to these medicines and if a government like the US is going to work contrary to this, we will stand and say to them because of the kind of agreements that they signed.”
“We are therefore disgruntled and betrayed by our partners the US government. We call upon the US to review, retract and probably rethink the position where they are because it is not a good position for us to be at in this particular day.”
Sylvia Nakasi, the Advocacy Officer at the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO) noted that Uganda remains one of the topmost countries that are heavily burdened by all sorts of diseases including HIV/AIDS.
Uganda has about 1.4 million people living with HIV and these people are on treatment for life, she said.
“If the legal environment is not favourable for generic medicines which are cheaper than branded medicines—most of the people who are dependent on these medicines on a daily routine will be affected.”
“This will mean loss of lives, a high burden to families and to the country in terms of economic growth. Without the new generic medicines being allowed to be produced, this literary means loss of lives.”
Asia Russell, the director of International Advocacy of Health Global Access Project, told The Independent that the legal regime is clear, the human rights obligations are clear and even the economic development argument could not be clearer.
“What is important though is that millions of lives hang in the balance and the US is alone and isolated in its position. We are shocked that the US government is still holding onto this position.”
“Millions of people around the world depend on affordable generic medicines and depend on robust generic production for their lives. This is even more so for newer medicines where drug companies are aggressively seeking patent protection including in poor countries.”
Russell said it is not an overstatement to say that millions of lives hang in the balance.
“What the US, in an isolated position, is demanding is irresponsible, unacceptable and it defies not just human rights but common sense.”
