Africa Action’s Executive Director Salih Booker said, "In Africa, where more than 25 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, access to anti-retroviral treatment is a matter of life and death. But the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies, and the policies pursued by rich countries at their behest, continue to keep life-saving treatment out of reach for those most affected by HIV/AIDS."

Booker added, "The Bush Administration insists on protecting the profits of the pharmaceutical industry by using only expensive, patented drugs in its HIV/AIDS treatment programs instead of lower-cost generic versions that could provide treatment to three times as many people."

This year’s World AIDS Day theme is ’Keep the Promise’, but Africa Action notes that the U.S. and other rich country government continue to break their promises to provide greater funding and support for African efforts to combat HIV/AIDS:

 In 2003, President Bush promised $15 billion over 5 years to help turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. Despite the urgent need for such support, much less than half of this money has been appropriated so far, and this funding is not intended for Africa and the Caribbean specifically - it is for all HIV/AIDS programs globally.

 The Global Fund is a critically important vehicle in the fight against HIV/AIDS in more than 125 countries, but despite earlier promises to support this initiative the world’s rich countries continue to fall short in their funding. At the September 2005 donor conference, donor pledges amounted to only $3.7 billion, which is insufficient to fund a new round of grants to support life-saving prevention and treatment programs in Africa and elsewhere.

 Just this week, the World Health Organization apologized for failing to meet the international goal of providing treatment to three million people by the end of 2005. This important "3 by 5" promise was not kept because of the unwillingness of the international community to provide the financial and logistical support required, and because of the continuing high cost of AIDS medicines.

 African governments have promised to spend 15% of their national budgets on health as a part of their commitment to combating HIV/AIDS on the continent. But many governments have been unable to keep this promise because of the huge burden of illegitimate external debt and the massive outflow of resources in the form of debt service payments to rich country creditors each year.

Ann-Louise Colgan, Director of Policy Analysis & Communications at Africa Action notes, "The latest UNAIDS report emphasizes that only one in ten Africans in need of anti-retroviral treatment are now receiving it. Unless there is a change in the drug companies’ behavior, and in the policies of the U.S. and other countries that support their interests, the promise of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 has little hope of being realized."

Marie Clarke Brill, Director of Public Education & Mobilization at Africa Action said, "The right to health is a basic human right, and for people living with HIV or AIDS, access to treatment is a critical component of this right. When effective treatment options exist, it is unconscionable that these be kept out of reach for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa."

Tonight’s screening of the film ’Pills, Profits, Protest’ will take place from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at TransAfrica Forum, 1426 21st Street, NW, in Washington, DC. The screening will be followed by a discussion about the current state of treatment access in Africa and the role of pharmaceutical companies in limiting access to essential HIV/AIDS medicines.