Mexico City, Jun 17 (EFE).- Some 60 non-governmental
organizations said Tuesday that anti-retroviral drugs for the
treatment of AIDS cost up to 30 times more in Mexico than they do in
other countries with comparable per capita incomes.
The organizations, which formed a coalition to seek universal
access to the drugs, sent an open letter to Health Secretary Jose
Angel Villalobos in which they criticized the high prices "set by
the pharmaceutical industry."
The coalition said that to ensure "universal, permanent and
sustainable" access to anti-retroviral drugs, it would be necessary
for the government to declare a "national HIV/AIDS emergency."
Such a move, according to the signatories that include
organizations like Aids Healthcare Foundation and notables such as
writer Carlos Monsivais, would make it possible to "save the lives
of nearly 180,000 Mexicans."
Declaration of a health emergency would allow the Mexican
government to "gain access to the mechanisms established by the
World Trade Organization for obtaining better prices," as well as
opening the way for purchasing and importing generic anti-retroviral
drugs, the organizations said.
The activists, moreover, said it would be necessary to scrap a
law that requires having a manufacturing or pharmaceutical license
to import and register medicines in Mexico.
This measure "limits our access to many options for importing
generic medicines," the document said.
In August, Mexico will host the 17th International AIDS
Conference, the most important global event dealing with the
disease.
The gathering will be "a unique opportunity to show the world and
the international community the advances made by Mexico in reducing
the prices of medications," the document, which was also signed by
the Mexican Sex Workers Network, the National Human Rights
Commission and the health secretariat in the western state of
Jalisco, said.
Between 8,000 and 8,500 new cases of the disease are diagnosed
each year in Mexico, according to National AIDS Prevention and
Control Center figures.
Some 50,000 of Mexico's more than 108 million inhabitants are
currently being treated for AIDS. EFE
