aids

• Telegram & Gazette (by Richard Nangle, they lucked out)
• NECN video

(Report from last year's rally at Indymedia, with video. Text from this year's announcement follows.)

Rally in Worcester, MA to Make Life-Saving Medications Available and
Affordable in Thailand Now!

A few weeks ago, we witnessed what is perhaps the most blatantly harmful measure Abbott has taken yet. The government of Thailand, in response to the prohibitively high price of Kaletra in their country, issued a compulsory license to produce generic versions of Abbott's life-saving AIDS drug Kaletra/Aluvia. This action was entirely legal within World Trade Organization rules and intellectual property rights law. In retaliation, Abbott decided to pull its registration for Kaletra and six other drugs, refusing to register its drugs in Thailand in the future. In an effort to score points for the profit-making power of global pharmaceutical companies, Abbott is mortgaging the health of people in Thailand. The consequences, generally and in particular for people living with AIDS, will be dire.

This action by Abbott is unprecedented by a pharmaceutical company and a comprehensive and intensive global campaign is needed to ensure that this never happens again and to register our disgust and condemnation for their precedence of profit over people.

Dr. Smarajit Jana will give a talk at Clark this Wednesday at 12pm in the Lurie conference room on the first floor of the Higgins University Center. The talk is entitled HIV/AIDS Prevention and Beyond: Sex Workers, Development, and Community-led Interventions in India.

Dr. Jana is a public health scientist who has directed health and HIV programs for CARE India, CARE Bangladesh and other CARE offices throughout Asia. He is currently the chief advisor to Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, the largest sex workers' rights collective in India, and a consultant on numerous international committees on sexual health and HIV/AIDS.