Section:
Peru
Published: December 14th, 2001.
IN LIMA, PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS
DEMAND TREATMENT ACCESS
By Richard Stern*
Lima.
People Living with HIV/AIDS in
Lima, Peru interrupted their own treatment Access Symposium to stage an
impromptu demonstration outside of the offices of the country's Health
Ministry.
About 100 people, including activists
from El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, participated in
the demonstration held on Wednesday, December 12th.
Protesters were enraged by remarks made
by Hugo Manrique who represented the Health Ministry at the First
Peruvian Symposium on AIDS Treatment Access held on the 11th and 12th of
December in Lima's Hotel Jose Antonio.
Manrique indicated that the Health
Ministry hoped to begin providing anti-retrovirales to 100 children with
AIDS in 2002, but that there are no plans to treat more than 8000 adults
who have AIDS.
When asked about statements supporting
universal treatment access made by Peru's Health Minister during the
special session of the United Nations on AIDS (UNGASS) in New York, last
June, Manrique answered boldly that "we are always signing these
international treaties and agreements, but that doesn't mean we are
going to comply."
Shocked by Manrique's brazen disregard
of commitments made by his own government, Symposium Organizers
including PWA activist Pablo Anamaria decided on a plan for a
demonstration outside Manrique's office the following day. "We are tired
of living without the medications that we need, and we are tired of our
government's disregard for our health and welfare," commented Anamaria,
adding that "this demonstration is the beginning of a new phase of
activism here in Peru."
Demonstrators delivered a letter to the
office of the Health Minister in which they asked for the Peruvian
government to "stop its genocidal policies which leave the fate of
People Living with HIV/AIDS to luck."
Peru, with a population of 23 million
people has approximately 80,000 HIV+ people. Ten thousand people have
AIDS and urgently need anti-retrovirals. About eight percent of the
population are affiliated with "ESSALUD" (Empresas de Seguros de Salud)
a government administered social security agency. ESSALUD current
provides anti-retroviral therapy to 894 people.
40 members of the Peruvian armed forces
are also receiving anti-retroviral therapy, according to Dr. Andrés
Paredes, who directs the military's AIDS program, known as COPRECOS.
But Dr. Paredes also shocked the
audience when he acknowledged that as soon as a serviceman dies of AIDS,
his wife and children no longer can receive ARV treatment from COPRECOS,
even if they have already begun therapy.
The New York based organization,
AID4AIDS, also donates ARV therapy to 60 Peruvians. But those not
covered by ESSALUD, COPRECOS, or AID4AIDS represent more than 90 percent
of Peru's AIDS affected population.
The cost of the triple therapy in Peru
continues to be as much as $7000 yearly for some "cocktails" and around
$4500 for others.
The UNAIDS representative from
Argentina, Pedro Chequer, attended the meeting and discussed the UNAIDS
"accelerated access" program which has resulted in sharply diminished
prices in other Latin American countries including Honduras and Chile.
But the UNAIDS representative for Peru, Adriana Gomez, indicated that
there are no current plans to promote this initiative in Peru.
"We can see that UNAIDS needs to be
more actively engaged in dialoguing with the Peruvian Health Ministry as
well as with the ESSALUD program," commented one symposium participant.
"The accelerated access program opens the door for many changes."
PWA activists Edgar Carrasco from
Venezuela and Odir Miranda from El Salvador, as well as Columbian gay
rights activist German Rincon, addressed the Symposium, urging Peruvian
PWA's to begin legal actions against their government.
While neighboring Brazil provides anti-retroviral
therapy to 105,000 in prices that are now under $2000 per year per
person, People with AIDS in countries in the Andean region including
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, have virtually no access to treatment and pay
prices three times as high as in Brazil.
*Director, Agua Buena Human Rights
Association
San José Costa Rica
Tel/Fax: 506-2280-3548
www.aguabuena.org