A small but important victory was won a few weeks ago, when the Mumbai Patent office rejected Abbot Laboratories’ application for a patent in India on its drug Kaletra. The result of this is that generic versions of the drug can now be sourced in India, making it much more affordable for the countless people suffering HIV.
Kaletra is an anti-viral drug used to increase treatment response for people with HIV. As HIV becomes resistant to older medication used, Kaletra will become vital in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Five million people are now alive because they are taking drugs like Kaletra, although double that amount of people are still in need of it. The cost of treating people in India and Africa will escalate dramatically unless generic versions of drugs such as Kaletra can be used.
Orphaned and vulnerable children living with HIV and AIDS. According to ActionAid estimates, over 20 000 children are infected with HIV each year due to parent to child transmission in India.
India has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region and is likely to be the country with the highest rates of HIV outside of Africa. A large number of sufferers are children, who face social stigma, limited education opportunities and can’t afford expensive medication needed to survive. Quite a number of children are also orphaned, the number being anywhere between half a million to two million children orphaned by AIDS in India alone.
ActionAid has been working on HIV and AIDS programs since 1987. Our program STAR is used around the world to educate and lobby, with some communities taking on schools that refuse to educate HIV positive children. ActionAid has also held a number of public hearings across the country in an effort to bring the voices of these children and concerned organisations together.
After Babu Mathew, Country Director of ActionAid India, says that "The stories that emerged in from these hearings are also a reflection of how the society has pushed these children into premature adulthood. We are committed to continue to raise these issues with each state."
