HIV/AIDS TECHNICAL NETWORK Sample Clauses

HIV/AIDS TECHNICAL NETWORK. The establishment of technical partnerships and networks is common in many areas of socio-economic development. While current networks can widen their mandate to include public health concerns that af- fect affordability of medicines, an existing network established at the XV International AIDS Conference in Thailand appears to be getting stronger. The idea of establishing networks among developing countries with the human resources and skills required for manufacturing drugs was raised at UNGASS in 2003. On that occasion, the need to define cooperation mechanisms to take full advantage of these resources and 30 A press statement on the extension of the donation is available online at: xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx.xxx/corporate/asp/news/ndetail.asp?ID=1514 31 These countries are Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia. 7: OPTIONS OUTSIDE TRIPS skills in a joint endeavor was clearly identified. The main objectives of the initiative remain: to increase access to drugs and other pharmaceutical inputs for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS (condoms, microbicides, vaccines, laboratory kits etc), to strengthen the technical skills of developing countries to make full use of the flexibilities regarding the management of Intellectual Property Rights as set forth in the TRIPS Agreement and enshrined in the Doha Declaration32. At the World Health Assembly held in Geneva from 17-22 May 2004, representatives of 8 countries (South Africa, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand and Ukraine) reaffirmed their commitment to setting up the Network. At the same meeting, the Ford Foundation - convinced of the usefulness of the initia- tive - undertook to invest 2 million US dollars in the Network over a period of 30 months. Two months after the Assembly had taken place, six of the countries (South Africa and India desisted, instead Cuba and Argentina have since joined) agreed to sign a Joint Declaration of Commitment in the course of the XV International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 11-16 July 2004. While the network has committed (Declaration of Commitment) to work together in the area of production of ARVs, price re- ductions and active use of generics it has also carried out various discussions on TRIPS and patent issues affecting access to ARVs.