Press Release: Protests at the UN Indian Mission, NY: Accountability Demanded: H

[Guest guest]

Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative (SHAII)

March to the Indian Mission at the UN in New York: India's response to HIV/AIDS

pandemic falls short Activists urge immediate action to stop HIV/AIDS

New York, May 31, 2006— Twenty-five years after the first AIDS case

was diagnosed, t housands of people living with HIV, civil-society

delegates, and AIDS activists from India and worldwide marched in

front of the UN missions of India, Nigeria, Uganda, and the US. As

world leaders gather at the UN General Assembly Special Session on

HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), observers question their progress toward the goals

endorsed in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment and call for greater

efforts to accelerate access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

" In 2001, the Indian government committed to reducing HIV prevalence

by 2005. Instead there has been a 32% increase in AIDS cases and an

additional 1.3 million people infected with HIV. Lack of effective

action by the Indian government is costing lives every day, " said Dr.

Vineeta Gupta, Director of the HIV/AIDS in India Initiative (SHAII),

at a rally outside the Indian mission to the UN. She demanded

universal access to AIDS treatment and prevention in communities

around the world through strengthening affordable basic heath care

systems.

In addition to Dr. Gupta, speakers at the rally and march included

Rosie , actress/director and AIDS activist; Sipho Mthathi,

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa; Violetta Ross, Bolivian

Network of People Living with AIDS; Beatrice Were, Action Aid, Uganda;

Raminta Stuikyte, Central and Eastern Europe Harm Reduction Network;

and Waheeda Shabazz, ACTUP Philadelphia. A coalition of AIDS groups

is demanding political accountability for the 15 million AIDS deaths

and 25 million new HIV infections since 2001.

In India less than 4% of HIV-positive mothers are receiving testing

and counseling services, and less than 3% are receiving antiretroviral (ARV)

prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission to their infants. India has not met the

UNGASS goal of providing 20% of HIV-positive mothers with ARV prophylaxis by the

end of 2005. While millions of people in India urgently require ARV treatment,

the Indian government has failed to disburse a $37 million grant from the Global

Fund to scale up treatment programs that could potentially have saved more than

45,000 lives.

" With 70,000 children in dire need of antiretroviral treatment, only

1,048 are currently receiving such treatment. When will our government speed up

action to save lives? " said Dr. Priya Ranjan of the Association for India's

Development, land. More than two decades after the epidemic emerged, the

Indian government still has no formal plan or guidelines for providing

lifesaving ARV therapy to children.

India's large generic pharmaceutical industry—a source of affordable

HIV/AIDS medicines for as many as half of all people with HIV/AIDS in

poor countries—is under severe threat from powerful multinational

pharmaceutical companies. Global health activists are urging the

Indian government to deny Gilead Pharmaceuticals a patent on

tenofovir, an important second-line AIDS medication.

The rally and march was organized by ACTUP - African Services

Committee - American Jewish World Service - Community HIV/AIDS

Mobilization Project - Gay Men's Health Crisis - Health GAP - Housing

Works - New York City AIDS Housing Network - Positive Health Project - Student

Global AIDS Campaign and supported by hundreds of groups from all over the world

(END).

Contact: Vineeta Gupta, US; Phone: 202-789-0432, Ext.207;

Cell: 202-538-1069; Email: vineeta@...