Statements and Webcast
Brazil
H. E. Mr. Alexandre Padilha, Minister of Health
9 June 2011
- Statement: English (Check against delivery)
Statement Summary
ALEXANDRE PADILHA, Minister for Health of Brazil, also spoke for the Foreign Policy and Global Health Initiative, saying that a public health environment free from discrimination was fundamental to universal access. Stigma and discrimination prevented people from accessing diagnoses and treatment. A gender perspective was needed in all policies and actions, and special attention must also be paid to populations vulnerable to HIV infection. Special international action, such as taking advantage of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) flexibilities must be taken to ensure access to affordable generic and new-generation antiretroviral and other drugs, he stressed.
The international community would fail in its battle against situations of vulnerability to HIV if it ignored them, besides failing to combat the disease if it tried to exclude such situations from its maps, he warned. In the past, global political leadership had been needed to establish the existing mechanisms for combating the epidemic, and it would take global political leadership to move forward, he emphasized. Without local production of medicines or incorporation of technology, universal access would not be sustainable. For Brazil’s part, Congress had just approved a Government initiative that would guarantee additional and permanent funding to increase contributions to UNITAID, he said.
Source: GA/11090