African health ministers launch appeal for low-cost AIDS drugs

Published: 2004-05-13

ROME (CNS) -- The right to lifesaving drug therapy is a human right for all people, said African government health ministers meeting in Rome. Some 14 government officials representing 13 African nations launched a fresh appeal to the world's rich countries to help fund and reduce costs for antiretroviral drugs in their fight against HIV/AIDS. The May 13 appeal, called the "Protocol of Rome," said: "The therapy that allows people to coexist with the virus and to live well, too, is available, but only for the rich world. The right to live, however, cannot depend on geography. "The right to the therapy is a new human right. ... We ask for this in the name of an intelligent globalization, capable of globalizing solidarity as well," said the appeal. Seventy percent of those infected with HIV/AIDS live in Africa; the virus has affected some 30 million men, women and children there. Without urgent action in prevention and proper treatment, those numbers will increase, the appeal said. The signing and launch of the protocol were organized by the Rome-based Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay organization.

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