Mexico 'should declare HIV a national emergency'
19/06/2008
A coalition of about 60 NGOs has urged the Mexican government to declare HIV/Aids a national emergency, EFE News Service reports.
The aid agencies argue that antiretroviral (ARV) drugs cost up to 30 times more in Mexico than they do in other countries when measured in real terms against per-capita incomes.
That means that many of the estimated 180,000 Mexicans who are currently living with the condition are unlikely to be able to afford to pay for the lifesaving treatment.
In a letter to the health secretary Jose Angel Villalobos, the coalition severely criticised the high cost of ARV drugs which it said had been "set by the pharmaceutical industry" without any subsidies.
By declaring HIV a national emergency, the coalition said the Mexican government would "gain access to the mechanisms established by the World Trade Organisation for obtaining better prices".
It would also become eligible to begin importing generic aids drugs, which can be produced at a fraction of the cost of branded medicines and are currently used by much of the developing world.
Such a move is impossible in Mexico at the moment because of a law which makes it necessary for biotech firms to secure a manufacturing or pharmaceutical licence to import and register medicines in Mexico.
The NGOs said that restriction "limits our access to many options for importing generic medicines" and so should be rescinded.
Some 8,000 new HIV infections are diagnosed in Mexico every year, according to the National Aids Prevention and Control Centre.
©