Dangerous AIDS Policy, Drug Patents Are Not the Problem
By Thompson Ayodele | From today’s Wall Street Journal Europe
LAGOS, Nigeria, Today, as we mark World AIDS Day, we should take stock of the suffering this disease continues to inflict, particularly in developing countries.
Twenty-five years after the disease was first discovered, AIDS continues to claim around two million lives each year. As an African, I’ve witnessed the suffering first-hand. My home region of sub-Saharan Africa has 12% of the world’s population, but accounts for two-thirds of those infected with AIDS and 75% of all AIDS-related deaths.
Western activists continue to blame the high price of drugs for the disease’s continued prevalence in Africa. They argue that poor countries should be permitted to break pharmaceutical patents to produce cheap knock-off versions at home.
Unfortunately, the activists are not just wrong; their policy proposal is flat-out dangerous. The real causes of restricted access to AIDS drugs are Africa’s derelict transportation systems, widespread corruption and poor utility infrastructure.
Most of the high-quality AIDS drugs that Africa imports have to be transported over vast distances and stored for extended periods of time before they can be distributed. But the roads and warehouses in most African countries are poorly maintained. Electricity, needed to keep drugs refrigerated, is scarce. Corrupt officials often exploit weaknesses in the supply chain, and extort hefty bribes from aid personnel.
Read more about drug patents and AIDS in Africa.
