(Geneva, February 28, 2008) -The United Nations and its member states are
failing to address serious threats to life and health posed by the promotion of
unproven AIDS "cures" and by counterfeit antiretroviral drugs, Human Rights
Watch said today.
In an article published yesterday, "Dangerous
medicines: Unproven AIDS cures and counterfeit antiretroviral drugs," in the
peer-reviewed journal Globalization and Health, Human Rights Watch cited
examples of the promotion of unproven AIDS treatments in countries as diverse as
Zambia, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, India, and Zimbabwe (http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/4/1/5).
The article also discusses how the absence of regulation or monitoring for
counterfeit antiretroviral medicines threatens the lives and health of thousands
of people living with HIV and AIDS. Inadequate state response is a particular
problem in regions like Southeast Asia where counterfeit pharmaceuticals are
widespread.
"Fake cures have been promoted since AIDS was
first identified," said Joseph Amon, HIV/AIDS program director at Human Rights
Watch and author of the article. "In the era of expanded antiretroviral
treatment programs, the failure of governments to monitor these false claims and
ensure accurate information about life-saving antiretroviral drugs undermines
global efforts to fight AIDS."
Gambia and Iran deserve particular scrutiny,
according to the article. In both countries, officials at the highest levels of
government have been directly involved in the promotion of unproven therapies.
International condemnation of their actions, however, has been absent or muted.
In Gambia in February 2007, President
Yahya Jammeh claimed to have developed an herbal cure for AIDS that was
effective in three days if people taking the treatment discontinued taking
antiretroviral drugs and refrained from alcohol, caffeine, and sex. Following
the announcement, Gambian journalists who criticized the so-called cure were
fired, and the UN resident coordinator in Gambia, Fadzai Gwaradzimba, was
permanently expelled for asking for scientific proof of the treatment's
effectiveness.
Since Jammeh's announcement, scant global
attention has been paid to the availability of effective AIDS treatments in the
country. Last week, however, the Gambian government announced with much fanfare
that Jammeh had been awarded an honorary degree in Herbal and Homeopathic
medicine by the Brussels-based Jean Monnet European University. In accepting the
degree, Jammeh announced that he had discovered cures for obesity and impotence,
adding to his previously declared "cures" for infertility, diabetes, and asthma.
According to the president's office, hundreds of people have taken the remedies
for HIV/AIDS. Gambian authorities have failed to provide information on the
degree to which patients taking the medicine had freely volunteered to do so,
and also on independent verification of the health outcomes.
Also in 2007, the president of Iran,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced the discovery of "IMOD" (an abbreviation for
"immuno-modulator drug"), an herbal AIDS treatment made from seven local Iranian
herbs. The government has promoted the drug as a "therapeutic vaccine" and as
the "first choice" for treatment in resource-constrained developing countries.
The President's Office for Technology Cooperation has also promoted the remedy
and sought partners for joint marketing, clinical trials, and manufacturing.
According to news reports in November 2007, the Iranian Minister of Health and
Medical Education stated that all patients with advanced HIV disease - more than
1,500 overall - would be treated with IMOD.
Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations
to put pressure on countries promoting unproven AIDS treatments to provide
complete, accurate information about effective HIV/AIDS treatment and to correct
false and misleading information about unproven therapies.
"Countries are gambling with the lives of people
living with HIV by promoting unproven AIDS remedies," said Amon. "The UN should
condemn this practice and work with governments and civil society groups to
ensure that effective AIDS treatment and information about it are provided."
In 2006, the United Nations issued a declaration
on HIV/AIDS committing all member states to pursue "all necessary efforts" to
scale up HIV/AIDS treatment programs towards the goal of providing universal
access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010.
"Access to effective medicines is an
indispensable part of the right to the highest attainable standard of health,"
Amon said. "Billions of dollars that are being spent on scaling up
antiretroviral treatment will be undermined if governments ignore the threats
posed by unproven AIDS treatments and counterfeit drugs."
To read the article by Human Rights Watch,
"Dangerous medicines: Unproven AIDS cures and counterfeit antiretroviral drugs,"
please visit:
http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/4/1/5
... Payvand News - 02/29/08 ... --
