International

1) Canadian Government Response

Canadians have a responsibility and an opportunity to contribute to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Activists have pressured the Canadian government to take action in the global AIDS crisis, and to live up to prior commitments to the goals of universal access to HIV prevention, care, treatment and support by 2010.

Among key demands:

Canada should pay our fair share:

  • Contribute 5% of the resource requirements for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
  • Meet the long-standing goal of .7% of GDP to development assistance
  • Cancel debts owed by countries burdened by HIV and poverty

Canada should help strengthen health systems:

  • Provide development assistance to help countries most affected by HIV to rebuild their healthcare workforce and support health workers
  • Discourage Canadian recruitment of health care professionals from developing countries
  • Support publicly-funded health systems in developing countries

Canada should support comprehensive HIV prevention:

  • Support evidence-based prevention approaches including harm reduction
  • Increase funding for prevention technologies including microbicides and vaccines
  • Increase support for prevention of mother to child transmission.

Canada should support efforts to address HIV co-infection with TB, HCV and malaria

Canada should make medicines accessible and affordable

  • Fix Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime to streamline licensing of generic drugs to supply developing countries
  • Support the establishment of an international HIV medicine patent pool

You can find more information about these issues at:

www.icad-cisd.com/content/pdf/GTAG_final_ENGJuly28.pdf

and

www.icad-cisd.com/content/pdf/CivilSocietyParticipation/GTAG_2009_PLATFORM_2009_EN.pdf

2)      Canadian Solidarity Responses

AIDS activists in Canada can provide solidarity when the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in other countries are under attack.

For example, PHAs are often caught in the crossfire when multinational pharmaceutical companies defend their patents and profits. In 2007 AIDS Action Now joined with the Asian Community AIDS Services to protest Abbott pharmaceutical’s threatened actions against Thailand because the Thai government was importing generic HIV drugs. You can watch a video of that action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG5vXyr-wcs