Chullikatt also pointed to reports that showed funding to combat AIDS fell in 2010 for the first time in the 30 years since the disease was identified. “We are reminded that political declaration and good will need to be matched by concrete actions on the ground and at the international level,” he said.
He urged the world to ensure that the 10 million people who lack access to life-saving drugs receive the safe and affordable treatment, care and support they need.
“The approximately $7 billion U.S. dollars which would be needed to provide this treatment is a substantial sum but pales in comparison to the money and resources spent by countries in the pursuit of war and other destructive activities such as the global enterprise that surrounds arms and drug trading,” he said.
The archbishop also called upon pharmaceutical companies to reassess their policies regarding intellectual property rights to ensure that such legal protections lead to greater research efforts “rather than becoming yet another barrier” to accessing drugs and medical equipment.
“While greater funding and access to necessary drugs is a requirement for addressing the lack of access to treatment, care and support, so too must greater considerations be given to ensuring that these resources are used in a manner which is effective and responsible,” Chullikatt said.
AIDS epidemic needs ‘value-based’ action
By Catholic News ServiceUNITED NATIONS - Abstinence and fidelity-based programs remain the only universally effective, safe and affordable means of halting the spread of AIDS, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United Nations told a meeting to review progress and chart the future course of the global response to the disease.
Archbishop Francis Chullikatt also said in remarks delivered June 10 that access to anti-retroviral drugs is vital in treating the disease and for reducing the risks for spreading it, but should not be seen as a means to “diminish the consequences of dangerous and irresponsible behavior.”
The archbishop said the world’s approach to the AIDS epidemic must involve “a value-based response which recognizes the need to promote the inherent dignity of the human person, thus, responsible sexual behavior and recognition of responsibility to oneself and one’s own community.”
While access to anti-retroviral drugs has proved beneficial in treating AIDS and limiting the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes the disease, the archbishop said only about a third of the 15 million people with the disease in low- and middle-income countries can obtain the medication.
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