Oxford University P&P lobby their MP over Treat AIDS Now Week of Action
Oxford University student and Campaign Advocate Nick Chan reports: Oxford University People & Planet met with local Oxford West MP Evan Harris just before the Treat AIDS Now Week of Action to press him to include our campaign demands in his work in Parliament and to present him with the action cards we had collected.
Coming from a medical background, he was well aware of the various issues surrounding HIV and AIDS, and was sympathetic and supportive of our campaigning.
We highlighted the ongoing DFID process of writing their strategy on AIDS and its importance in setting out the Government’s priorities and work on AIDS internationally for the next three years - an absolutely crucial time with the 2010 target for universal access to AIDS treatment just on the horizon. Increased support both for generic drugs and sustainable, predictable financing are ever-urgent and are two key things that the Government has to deliver on to make this strategy work.
Oxford P&P lobby their MP Evan Harris for the Week of Action to Treat AIDS Now.
Evan was impressed to hear of the specific proposals we were making to advance progress on these twin issues. On drugs, this included the concept of patent pools, which by collectively managing intellectual property rights, would massively help in simplifying and improving access to antiretrovirals for developing countries. For the issue of scaling up finance, he was definitely receptive to the proposal of a stamp duty levy on sterling currency transactions, recognizing the need for innovative new means to fill the funding gap.
On both these issues, Evan Harris said he would be writing to Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander and the Chancellor Alastair Darling on our behalf. We will be following this up with him in the weeks to come.