[DEBATE] : In 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy will deprive 10 000 AIDS patients from treatment

[Riaz K Tayob]

Act Up-Paris / Press release / 2008-01-07
In 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy will deprive 10 000 AIDS patients from  
treatment.
Will he boast about this in front of Bono?

In 2008 France will reduce by 20 million euros its contribution to  
the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria[1] as  
confirmed by the 2008 Finance Act published in the French  
Governmental Register (Journal Officiel) on the 27th of December,  
2007. Through the Global Fund, France contributed in 2007 to the  
treatment of 140 000 AIDS patients. Therefore this 7% decrease in  
funding amounts to the withdrawal of treatment for 10 000 people.

Tomorrow, on the 8th of January, 2008, at 6:30 pm, Nicolas Sarkozy  
will welcome the singer Bono, notably involved in the fight against  
AIDS. In no way shall this mask the responsibility of the President  
in terms of treatment withdrawal from patients living in the South.

On several occasions, Nicolas Sarkozy promised to increase the French  
contribution and to follow the commitment of rich countries to ensure  
universal access to treatment. On the 7th of June, 2007, at the G8,  
he thus announced: “I have committed myself to providing universal  
access for treatment by 2010.” [2] The day after, he was still  
insistent: “the G8 has committed itself to financing health in Africa  
up to 60 billion dollars for the coming years. The United States  
promised to fund half this amount. As for France, it will dedicate a  
billion dollars per year to Africa’s health.” [3] This statement  
committed France to an increase in its financial contribution.

In the world, only one third of patients needing treatments against  
AIDS will have access to them; in 2007, 2.1 million people died from  
AIDS according to UNAIDS.

The lowering of the French contribution equals to a false promise,  
showing that Nicolas Sarkosy is not the president who “does what he  
says”, contrary to what he likes to claim. It is first and foremost a  
criminal decision, condemning to death 10 000 people in 2008, not  
taking into account all the other patients who should have benefited  
from the promised French increase in financing. The President of  
France will also have to account for this.


Contact Khalil Elouardighi :  + 33 6 63 15 38 82

[1] See the 2008 Finance Act :
http://www.performance-publique.gouv.fr/farandole/2008/pap/pdf/ 
PAP2008_BG_Aide_publique_au_developpement.pdf
[2] www.elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/2007/juin/ 
conference_de_presse_au_sommet_du_g8_de_heiligendamm.78427.html
[3] Idem

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