The TAC will be holding protests today demanding more money from the G7 and other wealthy countries for the Global Fund against AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM). Events will take place in Johannesburg and Durban. Durban: Meet at City Hall at 11:30am. March to US Consulate (303 West Street) starts at 12:30 Contact: Dee or Mandla - 031 304 3673 Johannesburg: Meet at 12:30 in front of US Consulate (1 River Street - across the road from Killarney Mall) Contact: Sharon 083 634 8924 or Nomsa 072 147 4014 BELOW IS THE MEMORANDUM TO BE HANDED TO THE US CONSULATE OFFICIALS ******************************************************************* Memorandum to the President of the United States of America 9th October 2002 PAY UP TO THE GLOBAL FUND FOR HIV/AIDS, TB AND MALARIA (GFATM) FUND TREATMENT FOR HIV/AIDS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD! Dear President Bush The TAC and our allies in the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement, have declared today a Day of Action to call for financing of the Global Fund against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The TAC is here today to say to the industrialised countries of the world, but especially the United States Government, that you have a duty to substantially increase financing of the GFATM and to take concrete actions to alleviate the Global HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2001, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that $7-10 billion per year was necessary for managing HIV/AIDS alone. But by July 2002, the fund had raised approximately $2.1 billion, far short of the original target. According to GFATM, the US has pledged only $500 million, a tiny and insulting amount. We believe the failure of the USA to lead on this issue threatens the future of the fund, and thereby the lives of millions of poor people. Your government has recognised that the HIV epidemic is a threat to international security. 8,000 people die per day because of HIV/AIDS - a disease that can be both prevented and treated. All preventable death is tragic, but this number grotesquely overshadows the loss of life to terrorism - and yet you are prepared to spend a limitless amount on the war your government is threatening against Iraq. HIV/AIDS is a threat to continued development and the rights to life and dignity. The HIV epidemic exacerbates poverty, the breakdown of families and social dysfunction. Unlike most other epidemics, it disproportionately affects people in the most productive stages of their lives and deprives poor countries of the essential human capital they have generated. The health-care system of a relatively developed country, such as South Africa is disintegrating and the health-care systems of many poorer countries cannot develop because of the strain of the epidemic. However, although HIV/AIDS confronts us with the worst epidemic in centuries, unlike most past ones, the world today has the capital, institutions, communication systems, skills, medicines and knowledge to substantially mitigate its effects. What is required is the political will by all Governments, of developed and developing countries, to ensure the essential resources for alleviating the epidemic, especially medicines! and the means to distribute and monitor people using them, reach people living in poor countries affected by the epidemic. In particular the following urgent needs must be addressed, especially by the G8 countries and mostly the United States: Funding of GFATM must be increased to $10 billion a year before the end of 2002. Political and material support must be given to the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS to achieve their aim of treating 3 million people in developing countries by 2005. Pressure must be put by your governments on pharmaceutical companies to issue non-exclusive voluntary licenses for the manufacture of bioequivalent, high-quality generic essential medicines under patent on a four or five percent royalty fee basis in developing countries. This is the most sustainable way of ensuring that essential medicines will be available to GFATM, public health sectors and private health consumers at the most affordable price possible. Achieving these goals will require multilateral action within the framework of the world's international institutions. It concerns us that the current US Government is proposing to protect its perceived short-term security risks through unilateral military actions, instead of protecting the world's real long-term security risks through investment in health and development in poor regions. It is by investing in development, not war, that the world can make progress in the attainment of human rights, especially the rights to life and dignity, economic prosperity and the evolution of successful, sustainable democratic institutions. We hope that you will listen to our requests, because the lives of millions will be determined by your response. We request a reply to this Memorandum by 31 October 2002. Signed: Pholokgolo Ramothwala Zackie Achmat TAC Gauteng Coordinator TAC Chairperson Mandla Majola TAC KZN Coordinator