Articles
Medicines for All: the Launch of a Campaign
January 2002
MEDICINES FOR ALL - THE LAUNCH OF A CAMPAIGN
Vivek Diwan
On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2001, commemorated annually on 1 December, several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals throughout the nation formally launched the 'Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign' (AMTC) in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
The AMTC arose from a twofold need felt by many persons associated with the work in the field of HIV/AIDS and by those working on human rights issues in general. Firstly, there was a need to make medicines in India, particularly for HIV/AIDS, more accessible and affordable to the public.Read more
To Doha and back
December 2001
Sona Salvi
The Doha ministerial was the fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference since its inception on January 1st 1995. WTO was publicized as a harbinger of large gains to all countries with projected gains ranging from USD 180 billions to USD 230 billions over 10 years, around two third of which was supposed to accrue to developed countries and remaining to developing countries. It was the promise of such gains that lured the developing countries to sign this agreement. But hardly any expectations have been realized since then.Read more
The Draft National Health Policy 2001: An Analysis
November 2001
Diva Saxena
Health care is well accepted as a fundamental human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) reaffirms the right to health as universal and inalienable and seeks to promote an adequate standard of living consistent with the health and well-being of the individual including medical care and social services. Article 25 of the UDHR entitles special care and protection to women and children. India, being a signatory to the instrument is obliged to uphold the convention.Read more
View from the Bench
October 2001
Vikram Doctor
Vikram Doctor interviewed Justice Michael Kirby when he visited India on the invitation of Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit for a series of seminars and meetings. Justice Kirby is the senior most judge of the High Court of Australia (the Apex Court of Australia). The judge who has a longstanding connection with India spoke about HIV/AIDS and the law and various other related issues.
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20 Years Too Late, and Still Wanting
August 2001
Vivek Diwan analyses the final Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session
It has been 20 years since HIV/AIDS has been with us. Enough time, one would have thought, for nations of the world to have realised its destructive implications and accept that it affects all of us unsparingly and requires urgent, brave and zealous confrontation. Unfortunately, this realisation seems absent if the desultory and unimaginative Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, signed by member countries at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001, is anything to go by.Read more