www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

   
  home feedback about us  
   
CHINAGATE.OPINION.Population    
Agriculture  
Education&HR  
Energy  
Environment  
Finance  
Legislation  
Macro economy  
Population  
Private economy  
SOEs  
Sci-Tech  
Social security  
Telecom  
Trade  
Transportation  
Rural development  
Urban development  
     
     
 
 
China can lead new fight in war on AIDS


2004-05-18
China Daily

China's leaders have made significant strides in publicizing official HIV/AIDS policy in recent months.

On World AIDS Day, the media was filled with images of Premier Wen Jiabao and Health Minister Wu Yi visiting AIDS patients. A few weeks later Wu Yi visited the so-called "AIDS villages" in Central China's Henan Province, some of which have an infection rates as high as in sub-Saharan Africa.

Last week, we heard about a series of tough new measures being put in place by the new State Council Co-ordinating Committee on HIV/AIDS, measures aimed at preventing the spread of HIV, as well as providing care and treatment for those already infected.

These are powerful statements from the leadership.

As one health official in Beijing put it: "This is what we have all been waiting for."

The government's new attitude is more than just symbolic. Wen and senior health officials announced a "Four Free" policy in poor and rural areas: free testing; free treatment; free school for "AIDS orphans;" and free treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

If this new policy can be enacted, China will go from having one of the most closed HIV/AIDS policies in Asia to having one of the best such policies in the world.

The big question now is not whether Chinese leaders want to implement these changes - they clearly do - but how to make them a reality.

They face huge problems. China's healthcare system is inadequate, and the marketization of healthcare over the past two decades means doctors and hospitals now largely rely on drug sales for their livelihood. No money, no treatment.

If HIV/AIDS treatment is to be different, doctors will have to be convinced to put the health of AIDS patients before their own profits, and to overcome their fear of treating AIDS patients.

But one of the greatest obstacles China is facing - and one you rarely see mentioned in the headlines - is the stubborn refusal of foreign pharmaceutical companies to make anti-retroviral drugs available at an affordable price in China.

For example, GSK has patented and registered its drug Epivir (r) (also known as Lamivudine or 3TC) in China, but does not actually market it. (3TC is cheap and has far fewer side-effects than other treatments, and for this reason is the backbone of the WHO's "first-line" HIV/AIDS treatment plan worldwide.) GSK doesn't sell Epivir(r), but does sell the same chemical component in a different dosage under the name Heptodin (r) (to treat hepatitis), but at a very high price.

It sells a combination pill, Combivir(r) (3TC plus another drug, AZT), but at almost US$250 per month,so very few Chinese can afford it. Indeed, US$250 would buy more than a year's supply of an equivalent generic in India.

Why is GSK so reluctant? Market surveys show that Heptodin (r) is GSK's best selling drug in China, accounting for somewhere between US$60-80 million in annual sales. But this is business, and it would be unrealistic to expect companies not to make a profit. Still, what multinational pharmaceutical companies are doing in China is anything but healthy competition. Even if the companies lower their prices for anti-AIDS drugs - something they've been talking about for years now - there are likely to be many restrictions on those "discount" prices.

There is a better solution, however. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, China has the legal right to issue a compulsory licence and produce copies of GSK's patented medicine. They may fear this would be seen as just another case of the Chinese Government failing to respect patents, and that trade officials from Washington and London would protest strongly. On the contrary, in the words of a WHO report on the subject: "If China chooses to proceed with the issuance of compulsory licenses for some essential medicines, it will be showing its commitment to the patent system...rather than ignoring patents or engaging in underground counterfeiting..."

China should now go ahead with such a decision, and set a bold precedent in international trade. China has the technical capacity to supply not only the domestic market but the world's developing countries with cheap, life-saving AIDS drugs.

For years people have spoken of the time when China takes its rightful place in the world of trading nations.

Now it's time for that to become a reality.

 
 
     
  print  
     
  go to forum  
     
     
 
home feedback about us  
  Produced by m.orobotics.cn. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@chinagate.com.cn
主站蜘蛛池模板: 精品99久久 | 精品国产一区在线观看 | 精品小视频在线观看 | 国产成人在线观看免费网站 | 日韩视频一区二区三区 | 美国毛片亚洲社区在线观看 | 黄色三级在线 | 国产免费一级在线观看 | 久草在线视频网站 | 黄网站在线播放视频免费观看 | 亚洲乱强| 精品国产午夜肉伦伦影院 | 欧美成人高清视频 | 欧美一区二区精品系列在线观看 | 精品72久久久久久久中文字幕 | 男人的天堂欧美 | 亚洲欧美精品国产一区色综合 | 亚洲一区在线免费观看 | 99在线精品免费视频九九视 | 亚洲天堂美女视频 | 美女脱了内裤张开腿让男人桶网站 | 色一情| 久久久久久久久久久久福利 | 亚洲欧美小视频 | 国产素人在线观看 | 亚洲免费成人 | 日本欧美精品 | 特黄视频 | 澳门一级特黄真人毛片 | 性猛交毛片 | 久久亚洲一级α片 | 午夜爽爽爽视频 | 欧美亚洲日本一区二区三区浪人 | 国内精品自产拍在线观看91 | 日韩在线三级视频 | 欧美人体在线 | 国产精品永久免费自在线观看 | 免费又黄又爽的视频 | 国产亚洲精品久久久久久久久激情 | 亚洲性爰视频 | 一本本久综合久久爱 |