A small victory

Among the many battles (I almost said 'crusades'!) that I have joined is that for free access to information about treatment for HIV. It's been a long time since someone coined the phrase "a drug is a chemical plus information", but it's still true, especially for the antiretrovirals that many of our friends are taking. There's a huge 'industry' (rightly) clamouring for improved access to these drugs. But I've often been amazed me that so few of my fellow activists understand that without information, these drugs can be useless or even dangerous.

Almost every day, there is 'news' about a new side effect, a new interaction, a new dosage, for these drugs. Where? Why, in the journals, of course! Want to read the article? If you're not a subscriber (cost: usually several hundred dollars a year), it'll cost you US$25 or more to read one article. Who in the developing world can afford that?

The prestigious journal 'AIDS' has just released a special issue, featuring "articles examining universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment...". There's a foreword by Jacob Gayle of the Ford Foundation, who writes, "I trust the details that are found within this publication might help us all to begin to think about not only the latest in the art and science of HIV action, but also allow us to reflect upon the kind of world we hope to engender, with the values and actions that promote the efforts we know are necessary for reinforcing the human rights and dignities afforded to us all."

Ironically, just to read Jacob's article would cost $35! But there's a happy ending. I was so upset, I immediately sent a rant to Meiwita Budiharsana who heads up Ford's office in Indonesia. She took this up with Jacob, and lo and behold, within 24 hours the articles appeared for free at the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) for the 2008 International AIDS Conference. Because it happened so fast, I guessed that this would have happened anyway, but no; Tom Coates from UCLA confirmed that my rant was indeed the trigger.

A small victory for free access. Thanks Meiwita!

Babé