Dear Friends:

When our parliament decided to defeat Bill C-398 which would have ensured greater access to affordable medicines for people dying of treatable disease in developing countries, the local Grandmothers for Africa group was dismayed.  This decision translates into the loss of huge numbers of lives in Africa.  Some of those lives, for Oliver Grannies, have names and stories, hopes and dreams just like us.

The narrowly defeated bill would have made it easier for both developing countries and generic drug manufacturers supplying medicines to help save lives and reduce suffering.  Bill C 398 had the support of medical and legal experts, humanitarian activists, faith leaders,  the AIDS network and international development organizations across the country as well as health activists around the world.   In this riding the Bill had the support of our elected MP,  Alex Atamanenko.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal network says,  “It is a travesty that this current government, having made much of its initiative on maternal and child health, would now turn its back on an opportunity to help people dying of treatable diseases – through a smart policy that would have cost no taxpayer money and would harness the power of generic competition to get less expensive medicines to developing countries. “  MPs who voted against the bill have reneged on Parliament’s earlier pledge and have betrayed people in developing countries, including hundreds of thousands of children who need medicines to prevent suffering and death.  (Of the 148 ‘no’ votes cast all 148 were Conservative MPs)

Steven Lewis says,  “Government opposition to reforming Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime actually stems from the amount of effort it is expending to write the extension of drug patents into free-trade agreements.”

The struggle is not over. We can’t stop and neither can the courageous grandmothers of sub-Saharan Africa we support. Nonetheless, the sad bottom line right now is this:  after more than eight years of waiting for Canada to deliver on its pledge to help get more affordable medicines to Africa and other developing countries, people will continue to die from preventable disease because too many Canadian parliamentarians did not have the courage and political will to do the right thing.

Marion Boyd
Grandmothers for Africa
Oliver Branch

cc Alex Atamanenko, MP