Watching Tony Blair on behalf of AIDS victims

Written by Evan Harris on Tue 6th Jun 2006

Last week, I added my 'eyes' to join 5180 pairs already watching Tony Blair to make sure he keeps his promise, made with other world leaders at the G8 summit last July, to ensure there is AIDS treatment for all those across the world who need it by 2010.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the first HIV diagnosis and yet most people living with HIV in developing countries still lack many of the vital resources we have in the UK. Nowadays, if you are HIV positive in the UK, you can expect access to the latest medicines, doctors and clinics and AIDS is no longer an inevitable consequence of HIV, but many of the 40 million people who are living with HIV worldwide cannot even get these basic health requirements.

The Stop AIDS campaign wants to change this. It is calling for three things. Firstly the money. To reach the 2010 target will need money but currently the donor Governments, including our own, do not have a plan for where this will come from. A good first step would be to fully finance the international Global Fund, set up to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and currently experiencing a critical shortfall meaning programmes which are successfully saving lives may be cut. But this needs to be accompanied by a commitment to find a total of $20 billion a year for AIDS in the future including the money to reach the 2010 target.

Secondly, making drugs affordable. Generic drugs for HIV and AIDS are much cheaper but developing countries need us to provide them with financial, technical and political support to ensure they can buy them. The Government has commitments already to work on improving access to medicines and it must ensure it meets these, but it is vital that it continues to work to guarantee that new, cheap versions of key drugs become rapidly available in countries ravaged by AIDS.

Finally, improving health services. In many poor countries healthcare fees discourage people from seeking treatment and force poor families into poverty. At Gleneagles, world leaders committed to supporting free healthcare for the world's poorest countries and we must keep this commitment. Poor countries must be encouraged to invest in health care, training and attracting doctors and nurses to stay in their home countries, and improving the delivery of HIV services throughout local communities.

This week I am in Ukraine with the international campaigning charity RESULTS to look at the problems they are facing from TB and AIDS. Keeping the promise will be a huge step towards saving millions of lives.

Visit - www.actionaid.org.uk/eyes