Lewis calls on Ottawa to fight spread of AIDS
CTV.ca News Staff
United Nations envoy Stephen Lewis has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take a stand against HIV/AIDS and implement a four-step plan to stop the disease from spreading.
Lewis, the special envoy for AIDS in Africa, helped present the plan Wednesday at a news conference in Toronto, which is hosting the six-day International AIDS Conference.
The initiative calls for a timetable to increase Canada's assistance to 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
The plan also asks Canada to put more money into the health care systems of developing countries, cancel their debts, invest more money to fight AIDS and to follow through on commitments to make medicines more affordable.
Lewis pointed out that the United Kingdom has said it will reach the 0.7 target by 2013, France by 2012 and Germany and Italy by 2016.
"Canada, amongst the nations which has endorsed the 0.7, is the only country ... that refused to set the timetable," Lewis said. "That's not only delinquent, but it is, people have said, hypocritical."
Lewis told CTV Newsnet that Canada continually falls short in implementing existing legislation for providing generic drugs to African countries, passed nearly three years ago.
"Not a single tablet has gone out from that day to this," he said.
"It's inexplicable. I don't know the answer because Canada is in a clear position to issue what is called a compulsory licence. All they need is have somebody request that compulsory licence, they can induce that request, that's the power our government has, and then the pills would get to the people who need them.
"I do not understand the immobility and inertia that is characteristic of the previous (Paul) Martin government and the present Harper government."
Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement said the legislation is problematic, and will have to be examined.
"Clearly something is broken and we need to fix it, because it's not doing what it was intended to do," Clement told CTV News.
Generic drug manufacturer Apotex invested $100 million to manufacture medicine for Doctors Without Borders, but still has no license to sell it.
"I think the intention was correct. It was but the execution failed miserably," said Apotex president Jack Kay.
Meanwhile, patients in Africa are waiting in vain for the drugs. Only one in 10 Africans infected with HIV receives treatment.
Ombeni Sefue, Tanzania's high commissioner to Canada, said those suffering from AIDS need medication immediately.
"It's a bureaucratic nightmare, especially when you need the drugs today," said Sefue.
"The absence of political leadership is hearbreaking"
Meanwhile, Lewis said the message is getting through to the public and "a large number of celebrities," but not to the government.
"The absence of political leadership is what is heartbreaking, and I don't know what it takes except to keep hammering away at the issue," he said.
Inaction will have economic and social implications as well, said Lewis, describing how entire societies will fall apart and G8 nations will absorb the cost associated with the deadly disease.
"Either we respond to it now in a significant way ... or we wash our hands, we play this extraordinary game of indifference and passivity and the consequences will be calamitous down the road," he said.
Lewis said Harper's decision to not attend the event is significant and tragic.
"That frankly is a calamity. I mean, what a lost opportunity, what a mistake in political judgment," he said.
"But I can't do anything about that. None of us can do anything about it, so you fight the good fight in other ways."
Gerry Barr, of the Make Poverty History campaign, said, "There is no better time or place than here in Toronto at the International AIDS Conference for Canada to announce that it will step to the mark.''
The conference, which expects more than 20,000 delegates, begins Sunday.
With a report by CTV's Rosemary Thompson