Alex:  Please add to structuring poverty. Tx. Dan
http://www.oxfam.org.uk         21 July 2000            Press release

Oxfam calls $1b drug deal "a debt for tomorrow's AIDs orphans"

Oxfam today called the United States' $1 billion loan for sub-Saharan
African nations to buy only US-made anti-AIDs drugs "a debt that
tomorrow's AIDs orphans will be forced to pay".

Oxfam said the deal would simply load more debt on countries that were
already among the poorest in the world. This deal amounts to a credit-
line which locks poor countries into buying expensive patented drugs,
when what they need is help to make or buy low cost generic
equivalents.

"The G8 nations promised last year to write-off $100 billion worth of
poor
country debt. But little of that has been delivered. For the US this
week
to offer these same poor countries another $1 billion of debt is wrong-
headed," said Oxfam head of advocacy Phil Bloomer. The debt owed by
sub-Saharan African nations currently stands at $15.2 billion.

"This offer has been publicised as an act of kindness toward Africa's
24.5 million sufferers of HIV/AIDs," Bloomer said. "In fact, the money
will
flow straight into the pockets of the US pharmaceutical industry."

The deal will help the drug companies fight off competition from
"generic", or equivalent drugs manufactured out-of-patent and much
cheaper by countries like Brazil and India. The companies consider
these generic drugs to be a violation of intellectual property that the
companies say is protected by patents and trade agreements enforced
by the WTO.

The anti-AIDs drug called stavudine anti-retroviral, for instance, costs

$6.10 per daily dose in Uganda, where it is marketed by Bristol-Myers
Squibb, but just 55 cents in Brazil, where it is produced generically.
Brazil and India are among the few countries in the world that started
local anti-AIDs drug production before the WTO rules on intellectual
property rights were applied.

"The best way to begin helping the poor countries of sub-Sahara Africa
is to cancel their debt so they can invest in health, education and
development," Bloomer said. "And an important way to begin helping the
millions of AIDs-sufferers in sub-Sahara Africa is to change the WTO
rules to allow countries to produce or purchase affordable generic
drugs."

For further information please contact Matthew Grainger, Oxfam Media
Unit, 01865-312498

Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International, a company limited by
guarantee and registered in England No. 612172.
Registered office: 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ.
Registered charity No. 202918.