Brussels, 30/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Thursday 30 November, the European Parliament adopted a joint resolution from five political groups (EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL) calling for further measures to combat AIDS. In the resolution, which was adopted by 546 votes to 134, with 24 abstentions, Parliament expressed its great concern a the spread of HIV/AIDS and other epidemics which afflict the poorest people on the globe, at the lack of focus on prevention of HIV/AIDS and at the lack of funds and research into major epidemics.
Parliament underlined the need for the EU to fund specific programmes to ensure that children affected by the AIDS epidemic, either through the loss of one or both parents or because they themselves have contracted the illness, remain in the educational system and receive support. It called on the IMF to end the monetary conditions and budgetary ceilings which cause countries to limit their education and public health spending. It was concerned too by some African governments putting in place a trade tax or import duty on anti-viral drugs and other medicines. It called on the Commission to encourage these governments to get rid of these taxes.
The Parliament said it was concerned that the UNAIDS report highlighted that the level of knowledge on safe sex and HIV remained low in many countries, even in those where the impact of the epidemic is great. It renewed its call for information, education and advice based on responsible sexual behaviour and effective prevention of sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, to be an integral part of all sexual health services. It welcomed that a section on HIV/AIDS had been included in the 7th research framework programme and called for promotion of research on vaccines and microbicides, on ways of diagnosing and providing a follow-up adapted to the needs of developing countries, on epidemic transmission models and on social and behavioural trends.
Parliament called on the Commission to acknowledge that the Doha Declaration, five years after its adoption, had been a failure, with the WTO having received no notification that from any country, exporting or importing medicines, and it not having received any notification under the 30 August 2003 decision. It called on the Commission and Member States to take the necessary steps at the WTO to abolish the long and complex procedures needed for the authorisation of compulsory licences. The Commission was also invited to raise its contribution to the World Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to €1 billion. (oj)