Topic: Rights of HIV-Positive Individuals
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Madelyn Grant
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Brazil position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one
of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction
of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.
—Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization
During the 1990s the number of people dying of HIV/AIDS in developing countries was rapidly increasing; effective medicines to turn the pandemic into a chronic, but not necessarily deadly, disease were increasingly available, yet they were not affordable for the vast majority of affected people in developing countries. Transnational pharmaceutical companies (TNPCs) were in a position to charge high prices for innovative medicines, particularly in the case of AIDS antiretrovirals (ARVs). They were supported by the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), introduced with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, which demands the harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in all member countries.
In Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico—perhaps due to their large populations—are home to the biggest epidemics, with Brazil alone accounting for one-third of all the region’s population living with HIV/AIDS. Brazil has been working towards helping people living with HIV and AIDS in many ways. From 1996–2001 Brazil made negotiations with TNPCs for lower ARV prices and favorable licenses for local production. These ARVs are vital products to prevent parents from transmitting HIV to infants. Brazil maintains clinics open to the public which indisputably believe HIV positive women need to have their reproductive and sexual rights respected. Brazil knows that adherence to medication and adherence to safer sex practices are equally important and difficult and require both counseling and support. Brazil recognizes that counseling about reproductive choices for couples when one or both partners are HIV positive is an important form of secondary HIV/AIDS prevention. Brazil is continually developing services fostering a supportive environment to open up discussion about the sexual and reproductive rights of HIV positive people because they are urgently needed.The Brazilian National AIDS Program is widely recognized as the leading example of an integrated HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment program in a developing country. Many organizations critically analyze the Brazilian experience, distinguishing those elements that are unique to Brazil from the programmatic and policy decisions that can aid the development of similar programs in other low- and middle-income and developing countries.
Brazil hopes that other countries will join in on the prevention methods for the transfer of HIV in order to avoid a more terrible epidemic of the disease. Brazil heeds states to pursue their national interests and their private interests, but to also push countries to focus on human rights and supporting “health for all” politics in order to create the necessary confidence for global cooperation.
