Dying for a fairer deal
A 'grotesque obscenity' is how Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy on HIV/Aids described the lack of cheap anti-Aids drugs in Africa. So the recent TRIPS agreement that finally allows developing countries with no pharmaceutical industries to ignore patent rights and import cheaper generic medicines seems at first sight to offer hope to the 30 million or so Africans infected with HIV.
But even if the WHO achieves its target of getting antiretrovirals to 3 million by 2005, compared with the estimated 50,000 currently receiving them, it is still a case of too little too late for many of the sufferers.
The agreement was hailed as 'historic' by WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi, and as 'especially good news for the people of Africa' by Amina Chawahir Mohamed, Kenya's WTO ambassador. But many of the aid agencies were more sceptical: 'a severe disappointment', 'largely cosmetic' and offering 'little comfort for poor patients' was their response.
The fear in developing countries is that the new arrangements will become bogged down in red tape. In the first eight months of 2003, during which time the WTO talks on a drugs deal were stalled, an estimated 2 million Africans died, many of whom could have been saved.
And although the WTO deal comes into effect immediately, it could be some time before the medicines actually reach the developing countries - not least because there will be little money in these markets for the generics manufacturers.
But it is not just big pharma that should be shouldering the blame for the developing world's plight. It is not the only, nor even the worst offender.
It is also grotesque, for example, that many of the world's children are at risk from malnutrition and starvation while those born into wealthy societies are slowly killing themselves by overeating.
It is obscene that Western countries subsidise their food production to such an extent that surpluses are stored for years, fed to livestock or simply thrown away, while raising insurmountable trade barriers to keep out produce from the developing world.
It is grotesque that millions in the developing world are dying from typhoid, cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea because they have no access to uncontaminated drinking water, while others in the West use gallons every hour to keep their lawns green.
And it is obscene that the industrialised countries continue to sell arms to the world's poorest nations to enable them to fight civil wars that will take away from the most deprived people even the little that they have.
I wish I could believe that the TRIPS agreement will make a real difference in developing countries. I can't - but I would love to be proved wrong.