(Guess it could also go in the AFrica section, or Health, but I thought I'd give it a go here, sorry mods!!)

Sorry folks, I know this is a looong post, but I felt compelled to write it, and I want to thank those who takes the time to read it!

This is a subject that is very close to my heart. I will try to keep emotion out of it as much as possible, but I hope you will appreciate the fact that this will be very difficult for me. To see your country dying is bound to make any sane man emotional. When you see the stats I will provide as background, you will also see that I am not exaggerating when I say this.

1. Background
To get accurate date on HIV-AIDS is very difficult, for various reasons. I will use the data that seems to be the most accurate, but this means that some if it might be a little out of date.

These stats are very important to show exactly what the situation is, and why I, like so many others in this country, feel that this is an important issue and that urgent action is required.

“Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 2 113 571 at noon on Wednesday April 25” “Estimated HIV deaths in South Africa: 2 106 935 as at April 18” http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx...ids_barometer/ (these stats are for 2007).

Here are some stats from 2004: Worldwide – 39.4 million people living with the virus. Of these, 4.9 million where infected during 2004. Of these, 25.4 million people live in sub-Sahara Africa (64%). 76% of all women with the virus live in Sub-Sahara Africa. (Whiteside, Allan. 2005. AIDS in Africa: facts, figures and the extent of the problem, (In) Ethics and AIDS in Africa. New Africa Books. Cape Town.)

Stats just for SA in 2003: 5 638 577 people infected (SA’s population – 44 million). In 1994, 7.6% of South Africans where infected, by 2001, it was 24.8%. 1500 people are infected daily with the disease. It is estimated by Tony Barnett et al (Through a glass, darkly: data and uncertainty in the AIDS debate) that 900 people are dying daily in the Republic of South Africa of this disease. Almost a quarter of children in SA have already lost at least one parent. In Social Work here, our biggest problem right now, is Children headed families. Father has died of an AIDS related disease, mother is seriously ill, so daughter, 14, does not go to school, but takes care of mother and her 5 siblings. By 2001 420 000 children have been orphaned, it is much higher now.

Just a few notes, as background, on healthcare and economy in Africa and SA. 10% of the world’s population lives in Africa; it lives on 1% of the global economy, and 70% of all AIDS victims live on the continent. It is estimated that the total buying power for Africa south of the Sahara, excluding SA, is the same as that of Norway.
SA has a dual health care system, with VERY good private health for the rich, and a state run health system for the rest. The average spending per capita in the public health sector is R1000 (about US$ 140.59). (In the private sector it R5 100 – US$ 717).

2. The price of effective HIV-AIDS medicine

First of all, we should realize that Africa is working on the problem themselves, but the cost of developing a new drug is estimated at US$ 500 million, and this is not possible for any developing nation.

Immediately, the drug companies would use this number to defend their prices for drugs, but let’s have a look at this: In 1999 the top 10 pharmaceutical companies had an average profit margin of 30%, average return on revenues was 18.6% (Gerth & Stolberg, 2000. Drug firms reap profits on tax-backed research). In most industries a 10% profit margin is considered as excellent. In the USA, drug prices have consistently risen at a rate much faster than inflation (the average cost of a prescription was US$34 in 1990, US$61.33 in 1999. In 2002, the pharmaceutical industry made a profit of US$ 406 billion. Of this, only US$5.3 billion is contributed from African countries (Schulent & Ashcroft 2002. Affordable access to essential medication in developing countries.).


One of the problems in SA is Mother-to-Child (MtC) transmission of the HIV virus. Anti-retroviral is 70% effective in combating this. Also these drugs can make people healthier, so that they can have an active and productive life, much longer, even with the HI virus.

The best drug for this AZT 076 reduced MTC transmition where used from 25% to 8%. The problem? This drug costs US$800 per single treatment programme. (Remember above, this is much higher than the average total sum spending per capita on health). The company that makes it has offered the drug to some African countries at a price of US$ 150. This is still way too expensive for most African countries.

In 2003, 3 milligrams of Zudovudine const R1 989. That is US$ 279.72. A less effective drug, but still pretty good (47% effective) is Nerevapine. It costs US$4 per mother\child. A lot cheaper!

In India, a generic version of Zudovudine is manufactured. They sell it at 0.80 US cents per treatment programme.

3. The problem and a possible solution:
South Africa decided in 1994, to be a responsible player in the world stage. The country sees it self as a hope for the developing world, and wants to proof to the world that Developing countries can compete. For this reason SA has decided to respect Intellectual Property Rights, and thus Patent Rights. Our Government does not import generic version of drugs on with the Patent is still active.

Government did not want to provide Anti-retroviral, but under pressure form the citizens (a group called TAC, I will provide the webpage, some good info there) and the court, government was forced to. It is putting a lot of pressure on our health budget, as you can imagine.

President Mbeki has tried to negotiate with Pres. Bush on a few times to allow African countries to import generic versions, just for state run systems, in Africa, to no avail. Patent on medicine is controlled by the TRIPS agreement. This agreement does give government the power to declare a medical emergency, and thus forgo of patent rights for a time. But countries like SA have been threatened with sanctions if we would do this.

And now we come to my thoughts. HIV-AIDS is destroying my country, person by person, 900 per day. There are many reasons for this. My own government is almost criminal in their slow response, but I firmly believe the Developed world and the pharmaceutical industry is just as criminal in their response. There are many thins I think should be done by my own, and African governments for prevention etc. but in this post I just concentrate on the drug side of it, that helps people still be active and make an income, and also prevent transmitting the virus to babies through birth or breast feeding.


But I will take SA as an example, and give some ideas I have to help us in our fight:

1. SA should scrap its disability grand, the only financial aid South Africans can get, and put in place a Basic Income Grant. This will help motivate people to use the drugs, as many don’t as they then can no longer apply for disability grant.
2. Drug companies, at minimal loses to themselves, should sell the drugs at affordable (by Developing world standards) to countries, to give to people with in the public health system. People in the private system can pay normal prices.
3. If they do not do this, the AU should declare a continental emergency, and collectively decide to import the generic versions from Brazil and India, or manufacture is self (SA is totally capable of doing this). The UN’s help should be called in if the EU and the USA threaten sanctions.

It is one thing to be a responsible player on the world stage, but it is another to see your own people die. I understand President Bush has a responsibility to his own country, and the economy of said country, but President Mbeki, and the other African leaders have the same responsibility. I am convinced that the pharmaceutical industry will not suffer because of this.

4. End note
I know this is but part of the problem that is HIV-AIDS, and these suggestions will not solve the problem, even if it will go some way to solving it. HIV-AIDS need an holistic approach if the disease is to be beaten, and maybe later I will give thought to some other ideas, as well as give an in depth criticism of the SA governments handling of the pandemic.


AH

PS. A good link:
http://www.tac.org.za/

__________________
“When in doubt, do the courageous things”

Jan Smuts

I would agree that AIDS is a huge problem in Africa. But I for one don't have any solutions. Obviously pharmaceutical companies need to put a hell of a lot more time and money into developing an AIDS vaccine or a cure. But I think there is a lot the SA government can do too. Not just with coming up with drugs, but with educating the people of your country. The HIV virus is spreading like wildfire because people don't protect themselves. A lot of this is because they don't know, but in that article you linked to, it said HIV positive teens prefer partners who do not have HIV. Well of course they do, but the fact that that is considered ok is just bad. Finding a cure for the disease is an important step, but stopping the spread and making people aware is just as if not more important, to me at least. Well thats what I think on the subject.

As I said, in this ost I only concentrate on the drugs issue, but there are many more issues. On education - this is the one area where the SA government is actually doing beter on. Their education progarms are very good, and it reaches a lot of people, but not all (due to infrastructure in the rural areas).

There are manyissue that need adressing, like culture, and also religion. It is sometimes an uphill battle with the church still saying condoms are wrong.

AH

__________________
“When in doubt, do the courageous things”

Jan Smuts

I think that "intellectual property" is a contradiction in terms and therefore I don't view patent laws as legitimate. Since I don't consider patent laws to be part of a free market, I think that the South African government is morally justified in doing anything necessary to oppose dishonest laws that are ending lives. In a side note, America uses the UN but doesn't follow its rules, as shown by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This is just speculation, but perhaps gold subsidies would be good leverage to counter the threat of sanctions.

__________________
"Some people complain about the system. The system is not good, so they can't do anything. It's an excuse. Freedom is in your heart." (Jin Xing)

Whoa, have you got THAT wrong! If I remember correctly, you call yourself a capitalist, but everything you write is anti-capitalist! Don't offer patents and see how many drugs are developed - none!

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Read this post quick before the mods delete it!

I don't know exatly how the supposed "profits" of pharmaceutical companies are calculated, but the more relevent figure is return on investment. The pharma companies owe africa nothing. They are supposed to bail out a rat's nest continent from a disease whose cause is known and which is entirely preventable by working for nothing? Forget it. Africans need to get hold of themselves and stop acting like ignorant savages.

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Read this post quick before the mods delete it!

The wording of that statement is very revealing: You want the government to offer incentives to businesses apart from what the market offers. That is central planning. Since ideas are involved in the creation of all physical products, patent laws redundantly "protect" products and give the government rather than consumers the say in which ideas are the most valuable. The person whose ideology made me reconsider intellectual property laws is Murray Rothbard, the ultimate capitalist.

More of my "anti-capitalist" ideas include abolishing Social Security and welfare and replacing the income tax with a flat VAT, incidentally. I do oppose free trade, which is actually a way of subsidizing multinationals. You, as a self-proclaimed paleoconservative, ought to know that. Since both free trade and patent laws are themselves coercive wrongs and government exists for protection against coercion, intervention is justified to counteract such measures.

In so far as they have benefited from dishonest laws (patent laws), they owe a lot to the market in general, including Africa.

They are no more lacking in discipline than anyone else. What they lack are technology and education.

__________________
"Some people complain about the system. The system is not good, so they can't do anything. It's an excuse. Freedom is in your heart." (Jin Xing)

First, Jake. There is a problem with playing the blame game. First. As I stated in the OP, a lot of the infections is not trhough sex or drug use, but a child getting it from his mother. Why do they need to be punished? If you made a mistake, would you want your child to pay for it? Of course not!

Also, a lot of the women who are HIV+ sis nothing wrong. Their husbands have to leave home to work at the mines or in the cities (migrant labour is a huge problem in SA). There they sleep around, or have sex with prostitutes. They come back, and have sex with their wives. The wife is doing her msarital duty by sleeping with herhusband, and the church told her they are not allowed to use condoms (the western church) so she is infected. She gives the viirus to the baby she is still breat feeding, and to the child they create that night.

She did nothing wrong. Yet you feel she deserves no help?

And on the return on investment. I have shown in the OP that a small amount of drug companies' income come from Africa. And HIV-AIDS drugs are not the only drugs bought here. Therefor, these companies will still make huge profits, and get their return on income from the developed world (where people also get infected, but hey,. let's help them, right?)

Lastly, Jake. You say this is Africa's hole ,and we should get ourselves out. Well, that is what I say. Let us not pay the rediuicilous prices the drug companies charge. Let us get out of this hole ourselves by delcraling a emergency, and making the drugs ourselves.


Force. PAtent rights are a necesary evil. We do not live in a world where people do things for the common good. Thus companies need incentives to make drugs to make people better, and that is where patent rights come in. In the imperfect world we live in, there is no other way, I am afraid.

AH

__________________
“When in doubt, do the courageous things”

Jan Smuts

Why is intellectual property illegitimate? Shouldn't the inventor of a technology or the author of a book have every right to the fruit of his or her labor power?

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Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship/Marketing, City University, 1993

Well, all products, whether recognized as inventions or not, have ideas that go into their creation. The decision of which are the most important should be left to consumers, a decision that intellectual property laws, providing as they do special protection to certain ideas at the expense of others, interfere with. Patent offices should therefore be privatized and protection for ideas kept strictly in accordance with demand for ideas. All products are protected by physical property laws anyway. I'm something of an extremist on this issue, I know, but I tend to hold radical views in a number of directions.

__________________
"Some people complain about the system. The system is not good, so they can't do anything. It's an excuse. Freedom is in your heart." (Jin Xing)