Dear Readers,

This issue of MEDICC Review is published to coincide with International AIDS Day 2001.  We dedicate it to all those whose work touches the lives of people with HIV-AIDS, and to those who would help us discover a way to end this nightmare.

Today, some 36 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, over 25 million of them in Africa, where most have no way to pay for the drugs that might extend their lives. They die with no treatment in sight.

In lieu of our regular commentary, we offer you below the full text of the speech by Cuban Vice President Dr. Carlos Lage Dávila at the U.N. General Assembly on AIDS earlier this year.  In the address, Dr. Lage assesses the worldwide HIV-AIDS epidemic, appeals for remedying the injustices suffered by AIDS victims, and offers a proposal of Cuban solidarity for people with AIDS, especially those in the developing countries most affected. 

Sincerely,

Gail A. Reed, MS
Editor

Michele Frank, MD
Associate Editor

June 25, 2001

Mr. President

Mr. Secretary General

Distinguished Delegations:

No country is free of AIDS.  Some–the privileged and rich–have managed to reduce the mortality rate with medicines sold at high, unreasonable prices.  Others–unfortunate and poor–are experiencing a terrifying reduction in their population’s life expectancy and a demographic decline that could lead them to extinction.

In many African nations, the number of teachers who die from AIDS each year is greater than the number of new teachers graduating. 

The deaths in sub-Saharan Africa to date are equivalent to those that would have resulted from dropping on the region 70 bombs like the ones on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It is a dramatic paradox that, in this new millennium, the same continent that witnessed the appearance of humankind’s first ancestors six million years ago begins to witness the disappearance of humankind.

Cuba also suffers from this disease: there have been 2,565 people living with HIV/AIDS in our country, 388 of whom currently have the full-blown disease, and 896 of whom have died over the last 14 years.*

Our program to fight AIDS guarantees comprehensive care for people with HIV and AIDS, free anti-retroviral treatment for all,  specialized medical centers for those who require them and a constant struggle for patients to achieve the fullest social integration, with all their rights and without discrimination.

It also guarantees access to safe blood, certifying that 100% of blood donations are free of AIDS, hepatitis and other illnesses; voluntary testing of all pregnant women, resulting in  zero mother-child transmission since 1997; and an education and prevention strategy aimed at vulnerable groups, young people and the entire population.

We have the lowest AIDS rate in the Americas and one of the lowest in the world, with 0.3% of the population between 15 and 49 years affected.

CONTROLLING THE EPIDEMIC DESPITE THE BLOCKADE

Even in the face of the (U.S.) blockade, which prevents our access to 50% of the world’s new medicines because they are produced in the United States, we have controlled the epidemic, and what is more, achieved a life expectancy of 76 years and an infant mortality rate of less than seven.  Cuba participates in this Assembly as a responsible member of the international community, showing solidarity and modestly and freely offering our experience and collaboration.

The UN Secretary General has proposed--and is making a worthy and just effort to obtain--US $7-10 billion for the fight against AIDS.  The amount is not enough and money alone cannot solve the problem, but it is a necessary start.

It is incomprehensible to think that this life-saving money cannot be found in a world that spends 40 times more on illegal drugs, 80 times more on military budgets and 100 times more on advertising.

It is incomprehensible to think that this life-saving money cannot be found in a world where 20% of the population is responsible for 86% of private consumption, and where the personal fortunes of 22 people each exceed the amount the Secretary General is requesting, fortunes that in total represent 43 times his request.

The richest and most powerful nation in history--that claims it is a human rights champion, does not make its payments to the UN and is trying to reduce its contribution to the WHO--dedicates barely 0.2% of its gross domestic product to development.  It is the only country that voted against the resolution giving every individual the right to have access to AIDS medicines, while at the same time, it has unleashed an insane arms race upon the world, with the sale of the most sophisticated instruments of war to allies and followers, and its global missile shield initiative.

There is no need to elaborate further to understand that the international economic order is criminally unjust, that when the words “democracy”, “human rights”, “individual liberty”, “equal opportunities” and others come from the mouths of the powerful, they ring hollow and demagogic.

WE NEED JUSTICE AND SOLIDARITY

Donations and goodwill to help ease the pain and suffering are welcome and gratefully received, but they are not the solutions to humanity’s problems: what we need is justice and solidarity.

We believe it is necessary and possible to break down the imperialist dogmas that rule the world, but it will be a long fight and none of the 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, nor the million who die each year from malaria, nor the three million from tuberculosis, nor the 35,000 children who die daily from preventable illnesses, nor many others have time to wait.

Cuba believes that this special session of the UN General Assembly should proclaim that:

AIDS drugs and other vital medicines required on a large scale should not be protected by patents.  People cannot be allowed to make money off the lives of human beings.

The foreign debt of the poorest countries should be cancelled immediately and unconditionally.  They have already paid more than once.

The next Group of Seven meeting, instead of adopting a new economic liberalizations to imposed on the world’s poor and less fortunate, should agree to reduce their military budgets to raise at least the US$10 billion requested by the UN.  And they should turn these funds over today, not sit by while 25 million more people die.  This is merely a small part of their social debt to the Third World.

CUBAN GOVERNMENT OFFER

On behalf of the Cuban government, I would like to offer the following to the poorest countries and those with the highest prevalence of the illness:

4,000 doctors and health personnel to create the necessary infrastructure to supply the population with the prescription drugs they need and the necessary follow-up.  This same personnel would be available to train a large number of specialists in their own fields, including nurses and allied health technicians.

Sufficient professors to establish 20 medical schools, many of whom could be chosen out of the 2,359 Cuban doctors who are currently serving in 17 countries as part of Cuba’s Integral Health Program.  In these schools, 1,000 doctors would be trained annually in countries that need the most assistance.

Doctors, teachers, psychologists, and other specialists needed to assess and collaborate with campaigns to prevent AIDS and other illnesses.

Diagnostic equipment and kits necessary for basic prevention programs.

Anti-retroviral treatment for 30,000 patients.

All it would take is for the international community to provide the raw materials for the medicines, the equipment and material resources for these products and services.  Cuba would not obtain any profits, and would pay salaries in its national currency, thus taking on the most expensive part for international health agencies, as well as the most difficult part, which is to ensure that the professionals are prepared and ready to begin their work. 

AIDS, Mr. President, is a war without bombs or armies.

The world has accumulated extraordinary intelligence in all fields of knowledge.  Many more scientists live today, in the same historical period, than during all centuries past.  Created wealth is more than sufficient to assure a healthy life for the world’s six billion inhabitants.  Despite all this, we have started a new millennium in sickness.  The only possible cure is to put the world’s infinite resources to use in serving humanity, without petty commercial  interests or national egotism.

It is our responsibility to succeed.

Thank you very much.

See Health News from Cuba for more recent figures.