The International AIDS conference in Barcelona ended four days of meetings in the same mood of pessimism which existed at the opening session last Sunday.
Delegates heard lots of speeches, lots of good intentions, but made very little progress.
"We have heard interesting things from a medical, political and scientific point of view, but we cannot escape the fact that more than 90 per cent of AIDS sufferers have no access to treatment," said Ms Adela Farre, a Spanish delegate. But she accepted the conference had brought a new level of awareness.
Former presidents Mr Bill Clinton of the US and Mr Nelson Mandela of South Africa have become AIDS crusaders. Mr Clinton said the fight against the AIDS epidemic was as critical if not more so than the one against terrorism. He called on the US to lead the developing world in fulfilling its pledge to contribute to a $10 billion international fund.
Mr Mandela, as president of the International AIDS Trust, called for a climate of change so that patients and their families did not have to suffer "the ostracism and rejection" by the rest of the community. "Fourteen million children in Africa have already lost one or both parents to AIDS, and by the 2012 we can expect there will be more than 25 million orphans," he said. He described the AIDS epidemic as "nothing less than a war against humanity and a tragedy of enormous consequences." One positive result has been the agreement between WHO and six major drug companies to sell antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to West African countries at reduced prices, estimated to be as much as 80 or 90 per cent in some cases. This follows a similar agreement between pharmaceutical companies and governments in the Caribbean to import drugs with similar price cuts. But the experts complain that this move is only a small drop in a huge ocean. Most southern African countries, where the epidemic is most widespread, do not benefit from this agreement which covers only 30 countries.
Oxfam called for greater availability of generic drugs in developing countries, which would help reduce prices of ARVs. An Oxfam report issued at the conference told how they had tracked the price of brand name drugs in Uganda over a two-year period between May 2000 and April 2002 and studied the effects of the introduction of generic drugs.
"Despite the fact that the big five pharmaceutical companies had already agreed to reduce the prices of ARVs, it was the introduction of generic equivalents from India in October 2000 that led to a dramatic fall in the price of brand name medicines." In Uganda the prices reduced by 97 per cent over the two year period. But the report warned this was only a temporary solution, because under WTO rulings, countries such as India will no longer be allowed to export generic ARVs after 2005.