AIDS Drugs for Developing Countries - Essay Example

AIDS Drugs for Developing Countries AIDS affect millions of people worldwide. The developing countries have an ever-growing number of AIDS patients with a vast majority of them having no or limited access to the medicines that prolong and improve the lives of AIDS patients. According to Princeton web page, the acronym AIDS means, “acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a serious disease of the immune system transmitted through blood and other body fluids, especially via sexual contact or contaminated needles.” (princeton.edu). AIDS is a major problem in developing countries, especially in Africa and more specifically in Sub- Saharan Africa. Many organizations such as the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have taken a lot of measures that include; preventive techniques, education, and treatment methods to assist these countries in mitigating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Despite these concerted efforts, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection keeps on swelling. With this struggle for better life and good health, some countries in Africa, “have threatened to ignore drug companies’ intellectual property rights and produce drugs such as AZT cheaply in generic forms, until the companies realize the need to lower the price of these very essential drugs (Stupart, IDEA). There remains a greater need to find a solution to the ever-growing AIDS pandemic in the developing countries to help reduce human suffering and rising deaths. Reducing the price of AIDS drugs will go a long way in improving the lives of the patients in these countries. AIDS suffers are exploited immorally by being forced to buy these drugs. It is very certain that most drug companies make lots of profit, by selling drugs to AIDS patients in the developing world where AIDS prevalence is unmanageably high. Developing countries have little or no power to influence international decisions on the prices of drugs. As a result, they have no choice other than to pay huge sums of money to the industrialized countries who are the main producers of these drugs. The poor nations depend on industrialized countries for medicine to help improve the AIDS patients’ health, a fact that many drug manufacturing companies seem to be taking advantage of to sell their drugs at prices that are only convenient to them. As long as drug companies refuse to make AIDS drugs cheaper, poor countries remain in an endless bondage as a significant percentage of their working population succumb to AIDS. AIDS patients need these drugs as long as they live in order to have better lives. This makes AIDS patients captives of their fate as they have to pay whatever price the companies demand from them. According to Sarah Abrams in her article “Of Human Bondage,” the AIDS epidemic, is a matter of international concern that must be checked collectively to ensure safety and health of those affected. Most developing countries are heavily indebted to their developed counterparts but still have to buy AIDS medicine for their patients as a matter of necessity. These countries do not have a good economy, as Tan says, “A vast majority of developing countries depend on commodities as a main source of revenue. Primary commodities account for about half of the export revenues of developing countries with many developing countries still relying heavily on one or two primary commodities for the bulk of their export earnings.” (globalissues.org). With their already less productive economies, these countries still have to meet up with their debts and their patients’ demands for AIDS drugs, which only retards their economic potential. If these drugs are made cheaper in these countries, patients will lead better lives and governments will focus more on productive activities aimed at enhancing economic growth and development. Since most citizens of the developed countries lead better lives, they can reduce the price of AIDS drugs and shoulder part of the bill themselves in order to help these needy countries. Certainly, there is this question, as Richard Stupart puts it, “Is it right that the third world sufferers get huge discounts, whilst first world sufferers pay the full price?” Sure, the developed countries have a better economy and have more money to pay for these drugs to help save the lives of other humans who are unable to meet up with their basic needs to live better lives. Patients in richer countries have the opportunity to consume healthy food, which when coupled with these drugs can help improve their health significantly, whereas patients in poorer nations lack even good food not to mention medication. ReliefWeb Report gives examples of Southern African patients in need of food to survive. It states, “on the eve of the XIV International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, the charity highlight[s] the urgent need for world leaders to sit up and take notice of the huge impact that the combine problems of food shortage and HIV/AIDS could have for the region. An estimated 14.5 million people are in need of food aid across the region, including Angola, a region which registers HIV/AIDS rates of more than 20 percent, Swaziland 34.2 percent, Zimbabwe 25 percent, and Malawi 20 percent.” These statistics portray the extent of suffering of those in developing countries, and the extent to which they need help to effectively fight the AIDS pandemic. Sian Long, Regional HIV/AIDS Adviser for Southern Africa, says “Hunger exacerbates HIV/AIDS” so if developed countries help subsidize AIDS drugs for poorer countries and make it cheaper, the patients’ lives will improve immensely. AIDS has a widespread impact on developing countries. According to avert.org, “AIDS has erased decades of progress made in extending life expectancy in Africa. For example, the average life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is now 54.4 years and in some of the most heavily affected countries in the region life expectancy has fallen to below 49 years.” Helping these patients get easy access to medicine can extend life expectancy. Another factor is, in most or even all affected developing countries, the epidemic puts a strain on the already financially strained health care sector. As the epidemic develops, the demand for care for those living with HIV rises, as does the number of health care workers affected. Making AIDS drugs cheaper can help boost up the health sector in these poorer countries. Furthermore, AIDS has affected labor in these needy countries severely, which in turn slows down economic activity and social progress. Most AIDS patients are between the ages of 15 and 49 – in the major point of their working life. Employers, schools, factories, and hospitals have to train other staff to replace those at the workplace that become too ill to work before finally succumbing to the AIDS scourge. Some patients even feel more depressed and become incapable of working before they really fall sick physically. Making medication within the reach of most affected patients can really help revive their minds and promote economic and social progress. Finally, it is true to state that pharmaceutical companies have to make profit, but making AIDS drugs cheaper in developing countries, does not mean that they will not make profits. The cheaper the price of drugs, the greater the expansion and the availability of markets for the pharmaceutical companies. This implies greater economies of scale and expanded profit margins. According to Kinoti and Tawfik, “The increased disease burden due to increased cases of illnesses such TB, malnutrition, diarrhea, meningitis, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in the form of opportunistic infections associated with HIV infection means that prevention, care and treatment programs must be modified to respond to the new scenarios.” In this regard, making AIDS drugs cheaper encourages every needy country and patients to buy more drugs to tackle this opportunistic infections in order to get a better life. More so, AIDS epidemic has a very serious effect on households, especially when families lose their income earners. In other cases, people have to provide home based care for sick relatives, reducing their capacity to earn money for their family. “According to avert.org, “Many of those dying from AIDS have surviving partners who are themselves infected and in need of care. They leave behind orphans, who are often cared for by members of the extended family.” The HIV and AIDS epidemic has already significantly affected poorer countries economic development, and in turn, has affected the countries’ ability to cope with the epidemic. With such situation there is a growing need for AIDS drugs, so making these drugs cheaper, promotes an increase in markets outlets for pharmaceutical companies who will in tend make profit while helping the needy countries. In conclusion, developing countries are in a greater need of support in combating the AIDS pandemic. They need to have access to the drugs that prolong the lives of AIDS patients in the developing world. Making AIDS drugs cheaper facilitates their access and really plays a greater role in making the patients comfortable while giving them the opportunity to live longer without a lot to worry about. Helping patients meet their health needs is crucial to life sustainability. What is more, this can facilitate their ability to tackle other financial issues and live better lives. Read More