The Wall Street Journal - March 13, 2001
Michael M. Phillips and Yaroslav Trofimov

With global outrage mounting over the deadly spread of AIDS in Africa, the world's wealthy nations are considering plans to help poor ones buy expensive, life-extending drugs.

Momentum is building among the Group of Seven major industrial powers to announce an anti-AIDS plan at their July summit in Genoa, Italy, according to G-7 officials.

"It has got to be both drugs that cure and drugs that prevent the disease," said Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin, who described himself as optimistic that the G-7 leaders will negotiate an accord.

G-7 officials, however, hastened to add that the effort faces daunting hurdles and may fall well short of the funding health experts say is necessary. Of the 36.1 million people world-wide infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, 25.3 million of them are in Africa, the continent least-equipped to provide basic health care, much less the expensive drug treatments that are lengthening lives in the West.

The major pharmaceutical companies -- besieged by competition from generic drugs made in the developing world -- are sharply cutting prices for brand-name medicines. Even so, relatively few Africans could afford them without outside assistance; the very poorest nations have annual health budgets equivalent to $10 per person.

"This price reduction will get it up to the hundreds of thousands" of Africans who can afford to receive treatment, said one U.S. official. "Still, we're not going to be in the millions."

The latest price cut, announced by Merck & Co. last week, puts more pressure on the G-7 to ante up with significant funding, either directly or through international agencies such as the World Bank.

Italy, which is hosting the Genoa summit, has proposed creating a trust fund of at least $1 billion -- part from governments, part from private companies -- that would be managed by the World Bank and would fight AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery and other diseases, said Francesco Olivieri, the Italian government's summit coordinator.

The Italian plan would provide drugs, finance vaccine development and build public-health systems. "You can't just parachute a bagful of drugs onto a village square in Africa," Mr. Olivieri said. "You have to create first a health system that is sufficiently reliable to control the distribution and the access to this medicine." Separately, Britain has put forward a vaccine-development proposal, which is likely to merge with the Italian plan.

But health experts say the AIDS epidemic demands a much more generous response, with the U.N.'s AIDS agency calling for rich nations to provide $7 billion to $10 billion to enhance world-wide treatment and prevention programs. It is unclear whether the G-7 governments will provide anywhere near that much. Secretary of State Colin Powell has discussed the disease with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But the Bush administration has given no indication that it would chip in for a huge international drug-purchase plan at a time when it is wrestling with Congress over a 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut. A National Security Council spokesman had no immediate comment on the question Monday.

G-7 members are the U.S., Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, France and Canada. Write to Michael M. Phillips at michael.phillips@wsj.com and to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

010313
WJ010310

Copyright © 2001 - The Wall Street Journal. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the WSJ Permissions Desk.

ÆGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, iMetrikus, Inc., the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

ÆGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1990, 2000. ÆGiS & the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. All materials appearing on ÆGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of ÆGIS and the Sisters of Saint. Elizabeth of Hungary, or the party credited as the provider of the content.