On Feb. 26, 2005, more than 4,000 students and young people from across the country converged on Washington, DC for the Student March Against AIDS organized by the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) with partner organizations. Rallying first at the White House and then marching two miles up Constitution Avenue to a closing rally at the Capitol, student marchers could be heard chanting from blocks away as traffic was halted and tourists flocked to the streets to see what was going on.
The second largest AIDS demonstration in U.S. history and the largest in 10 years, the Student March Against AIDS has been widely hailed as the birth of a powerful student AIDS movement – a turning point in the fight against AIDS. It also marked the arrival of a global youth movement with 18 countries participating in a global day of youth action to end AIDS, the first of its kind.
On the second annual Youth AIDS Day in 2006, SGAC yet again marched through the streets of downtown Washington D.C. visiting the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative, Abbott Laboratories, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the White House. Students took the streets with messages like, “People over Profit” and “Pills Cost Pennies. Greed Costs Lives!”
Since the first Youth AIDS Day, nearly two years ago, student and youth activists from across the world see Feb. 26 as a day to come together as a united front of young people who are impassioned and committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS, both here in the U.S. and globally, in solidarity with friends, partners, and allies everywhere.
This year, the main objective of Youth AIDS Day is to create policy change in two areas: the International Monetary Fund and Abbott Laboratories.
The International Monetary Fund often places restrictive spending limitations on its loans to countries in the Global South. These sector spending caps dictate that countries can only spend a limited amount on health care and education, areas which are crucial to curbing the AIDS pandemic.
However, the United States has the power to block essentially any of the IMF’s decisions. A bill sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) proposes that the United States speak out to oppose IMF loan agreements that contain health care sector spending caps. A similar bill will emerge soon in the House. Right now, however, the Senate bill’s language is too weak to institute any actual policy change. Our elected officials must demand stronger wording to oppose IMF spending caps on health care.
Now, we can urge our members of Congress to support a strong bill, freeing countries of harmful IMF restrictions.
As for Abbott, we have four major demands:
1) Establish affordable prices for Kaletra in low- and middle-income countries, including many in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Eastern Europe;
2) Offer open and voluntary licenses for the production of generic (more affordable) versions of Kaletra;
3) Expedite the pace of registration of Kaletra throughout all of Abbott’s expanded access countries;
4) Register a new pediatric form of Kaletra throughout the Global South.
Recently, Abbott tried to undermine Thailand’s compulsory license. The license would allow Thailand to produce lower-cost AIDS medications, but Abbott—desperate to make some profit—tried to renegotiate the price of their antiretroviral Kaletra. Thus, we know Abbott is capable of lowering the price of their drugs, but are only willing to do so when forced.
To do our part, Wesleyan University SGAC’ers will be tabling in the campus center at lunch on Monday, and in Mocon at lunch and dinner. We will be selling t-shirts for $3 to benefit the Student Global AIDS Campaign and the Treatment Action Campaign. Bring money when you go to eat! We will also be running a letter-signing campaign to Connecticut Senators Dodd and Lieberman regarding the IMF policy, and to Jeff Stewart, General Manager of Virology at Abbott.
At 8 p.m. we will be hosting a free screening of the movie “Pills, Profits, Protests,” an hour-long documentary about the history of the AIDS treatment campaign, in Shanklin 107. We will also have t-shirts and letters available for those who don’t come to our tables at lunch.
This is a worthy cause, and a pressing one. The medicines are available, yet economic and geographic boundaries are preventing people from getting the treatment they need. Six people die of AIDS every minute of every day. Don’t let the big businesses get away with this one.
Love and Condoms,
Wesleyan SGAC
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