White House Forum for Faith Leaders Tuesday, July 24th, 2012 Panel 2: Upholding Dignity and Justice

within the context of the HIV Epidemic: Exploring Partnerships between Governments and Faith Communities Good morning. Thank you for this invitation. Given the type of speakers before me, I have to clarify that I am not a faith leader, neither a preacher; but I am a woman living with HIV who has a faith, I am the daughter of an evangelical pastor but I am also an advocate for treatment access for people living with HIV. I love the name of this office here in the US administration, our hosts today: Faithbased and Neighborhood Partnerships. I want to explore the meaning of these words. Firstly, lets analyze the words faith based partnership

Almost all speakers before me made reference to the work of Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) in relation to stigma associated to HIV, this is correct but this is not the only thing they can do. I will give you one example of what some FBOs are doing that the US Government is not: Advocacy related to intellectual property rights, trade agreements and universal access for antiretroviral medications. You might know that the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance has been a key supporter of the Medicines Patent Pool, this mechanism was set up by UNITAID with support from WHO, UNAIDS and others. Its main objective is to promote voluntary licenses with pharmaceutical companies in order to bring down the prices of antiretroviral medications, promoting the production of generic HIV drugs. This is something the US Government is currently not doing. In the contrary, the US Government is actively signing Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Panama, India, Argentina and many developing countries. You have to know that Free Trade Agreements DO NOT HELP ANY OF US LIVING WITH HIV. The problem is that pharmaceutical companies are not FBOs and they are not the communities, they are a Golliath, and we are a mini version of David. We know the pharmaceutical companies will continue to do what they have always done: get money and profit; and they dont care if this happens at the cost of our lives. But at least, lets avoid giving them money to do this. I know some of the

research of the pharmaceutical companies comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), once they discover something, it is patented immediately, right after, and we dont have access. We cant allow profit interests to be a priority over the lives of people. I agree we have to patent many things, for example this podium, my shoes, a gel for hair loss, you can patent those; BUT PLEASE DONT PATENT MEDICATIONS THAT ARE NEEDED FOR PEOPLE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD!!! Many Free Trade Agreements include a chapter on intellectual property that deals with medications as any other good, and then the prices go up to levels such as 10.000 USD/person/year. The pharmaceutical companies are really cruel, some antiretroviral have patents that are about to expire, if this happens, they will quickly ask for a second and even a third patent, arguing a new presentation when in fact there is no real discovery. The experts on intellectual property rights call this ABUSIVE PATENTS, and I completely agree. All this week in the 19th International AIDS Conference we have been listening to the call to start treatment earlier, treatment as prevention, etc. All this is great, but only possible if there are not patents on those medications. We need to realize we are creating an expanded market for antiretroviral medications, but if those are patented, not even the US will be able to sustain its own programs such as PEPFAR. And speaking about PEPFAR, you need to know there is no one single country of Latin America included, only Haiti. I am just realizing in this moment, that I might be the only person from Latin America in this room. Oh well, there is Anuar Luna from Mexico! Latin America often gets lost in global policy making discussions, because we are seen as a region with 75% access to treatment for HIV, this figure masks the huge inequalities we have in relation to wealth distribution, access to health, etc. But not only are we affected by Free Trade Agreements between the US and (for example) El Salvador, but also we are affected by what happens at global level. If a trade agreement that includes medications is signed between India and the US, the rest of us will be left to die, because virtually, all developing countries are currently buying drugs from generic companies in India.

Signing Free Trade Agreements that include patents for medications IS NOT JUSTICE and NOT DIGNITY; that is the subject of this panel right? Now lets analyze the second part of the name of this office in the White House: Neighborhood Partnerships

When I heard this name, I was thrilled to think: Who is the neighbor of the US? Well, I am glad to remind you it is Mexico! And Latin America! Precisely the region I was talking about as left in the middle of global policy making. Mexico yes, but also the Caribbean, South America and Central America; sadly, most of these countries have already signed Free Trade Agreements with the US and THIS MEANS WE, PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV, WILL NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ANTIRETROVIRAL MEDICATIONS AT AFFORDABLE PRICES. But also your neighbor is the Diaspora coming from every corner of the world, all these migrant populations here in the US, who we know, dont necessarily have access to services, we know they fear detention because of their legal status, all these migrants are also the neighbors of the US Government, right here in the next street. Remember the Bible says: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF? Well, basically, the US is called to love the entire Developing World, which is the neighbor of the US. Third and last, lets analyze the word partnership

All the morning we have been talking about a partnership between the US Government and FBOs, this is good news but I wonder how will this happen? Clearly the US government is a giant and the FBOs are the kid. Can you imagine if this table was the table of our partnership? Also imagine our table had a broken leg? How will this table look like? Perhaps, it would look like the FBOs on the lower part and the US Government on the top right? This would create an imbalance in power that we dont want and dont need, because A PARTNERSHIP IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EQUALS. For me an ideal partnership is a table with: Different abilities that each one brings Equal voices and negotiating power

Same goal And I truly hope the goal that FBOs and the US Government have, indeed is the same goal of us, people living with HIV:

UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO HIV PREVENTION AND CARE FOR ALL

Thanks. Gracia Violeta Ross graciavioleta@gmail.com