A4-0146/95

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the AIDS policy of the Community and the Member States in the developing world (COM(93)0479 - C3-0022/94)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 7 January 1994 (COM(93)0479 - C3-0022/94),

- having regard to the statement issued by the Council of Development Ministers of 6 May 1994 on that communication,

- having regard to the final resolution of the World AIDS summit of 1 December 1994 in Paris,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation and the opinions of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy and the Committee on Women's Rights (A4-0146/95),

A. deeply concerned by the continuing expansion of AIDS in all the countries of the world, in particular in the developing countries, where at least 80% of those infected with the HIV virus will be living in the year 2000,

B. whereas the AIDS pandemic is not only a medical phenomenon but one which must be addressed comprehensively since it gives rise to destructive consequences in social, economic, demographic, legal and political terms, which also tend to facilitate the spread of the disease,

C. whereas measures to combat the scourge of AIDS require solidarity at both world and European level, not only as regards therapeutic research but also as regards information and prevention; whereas, moreover, such solidarity should also make it possible to increase the number of individual patients who must be taken care of,

D. whereas at present there is no way of eradicating the virus and the existing medicines, which are still very expensive - and indeed unaffordable for the developing countries - merely make it possible to slow down the development of the disease; whereas, furthermore, the only means of preventing sexual transmission of the HIV virus is still the condom,

E. whereas the scale of the social problems in developing countries leads young people into prostitution, whether occasional or long-term; whereas the increase in 'sex tourism' perpetuates this means of making a living and increases the spread of the virus even further,

F. whereas work is being carried out in the Union on measures to be adopted to ensure safe blood transfusions and whereas such work should serve as guidance for the developing countries and aid should be given to them for this purpose,

G. whereas AIDS affects the most active segments of the population with disastrous repercussions on the entire social and productive fabric, which seriously jeopardizes achievements in economic and social affairs and imperils in the long term the sustainable development of those countries,

H. whereas specific attention must be paid to women and adolescent men because they are biologically, epidemiologically and socially more vulnerable to the virus than grown men, and whereas it is in their case that prevention may be the most effective,

I. whereas ways must be found to help the children of seropositive women and AIDS orphans,

J. having regard to the precarious state of health care systems and the shortage of qualified staff, doctors and facilities to deal with patients in the developing countries,

K. whereas, like tropical diseases and, in general, illnesses linked to poverty, because of its social and economic effects - especially on the health services - AIDS is a considerable obstacle to development,

L. whereas, so far, the efforts made by the international community and by the European Union have been inadequate and an increase in expenditure aimed at prevention is needed to reduce, in the long term, the direct and indirect costs of the epidemic and, in particular, to ensure that information campaigns are able to tackle a new form of sexual behaviour which consists in certain groups at risk refusing to use condoms,

M. profoundly alarmed at the continuing reduction in funding for research into HIV and AIDS, caused by the fact that pharmaceutical industries do not intend to continue costly research which brings them no profit in the medium term,

N. reiterating the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly's resolution on AIDS of 1 October 1992,

1. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has issued a communication setting out its policy on combating AIDS in the developing countries and that this policy includes the social and economic as well as the medical aspects of the disease;

2. Notes, however, that neither the communication nor the Council statement form an adequate basis for further action by the Community and its Member States;

3. Notes the inadequate funding, the lack of a clear legal basis and inadequate information on past activities and their success;

4. Feels that there should be greater concentration on a small number of priority measures;

5. Calls on the Commission to submit a detailed report on past activities and their success and awaits the establishment of a clear legal basis and a clearly defined action programme;

6. Calls on the Commission to propose an action programme to combat AIDS in the developing countries;

7. Considers that it is imperative to concentrate aid on action aimed at:

- the provision of HIV-free blood supplies, combined with a ban on the uncontrolled sale of blood by institutions and individuals,

- improving the systems for training and informing medical staff, in particular about the storage of blood and transfusion practices,

- encouraging the use of disposable syringes and allowing their free distribution, or measures to ensure the effective sterilisation of syringes,

- stepping up information to opinion-formers such as teachers, local leaders and representatives of the media (particularly in the form of information programmes for radio and TV journalists),

- promoting the distribution of radio receivers that operate without batteries so that information to the population may be improved,

- increasing the awareness and responsibility of the population, in particular groups at risk - including tourists - about the use of condoms,

- pursuing a specific policy to prevent the disease and provide sex education, in particular among women and children,

- helping to set up advisory and patient care facilities,

- encouraging all methods of preventing sexually transmitted diseases and reducing the costs of manufacturing and distributing condoms;

considers, moreover, that these measures must be carried out in cooperation and/or collaboration with national governments, local authorities and local NGOs;

8. Stresses the need to encourage and coordinate the activities of the NGOs who play an essential role in the campaign against AIDS by means of their direct contact with local people, amongst whom they can raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem, and takes the view that collaboration must also be encouraged between the NGOs and national campaigns against AIDS;

9. Notes that the HIV virus and AIDS, since they hit the economically active population in particular, have a great economic and social impact on the developing countries; therefore calls on the Commission and the Member States, in the context of their development cooperation policies, to implement social and human development programmes to provide economic compensation for the losses resulting from the economic inactivity in which part of the active population is forced to live;

10. Requests that more attention be given to the socio-economic situation of AIDS sufferers who must be integrated in the local production and labour system;

11. Takes the view that it is essential to bring care closer to the people, which entails fostering closer links between the hospital systems and delocalized care;

12. Calls, in view of the limited resources available, for action to be concentrated on the poorest countries;

13. Notes that prevention can be most effective when the epidemic is still in its early stages;

14. Calls on the EU to adopt policies leading to a social and, in particular, an economic environment where women and adolescent girls are able to enhance their ability to take their own decisions through education, vocational training, legal and social measures;

15. Calls for account to be taken of women's need for medical care in violent situations, particularly in time of war, in view of the increased risk of HIV infection which such situations entail;

16. Takes the view that great importance must be attached to certain groups at risk such as prostitutes, inmates of prisons, military personnel and refugees and believes that the specific situation of nomadic peoples, above all in terms of access to prevention, screening and treatment, merits specific attention;

17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in the context of their cooperation programmes with the developing countries, to make provision for laws and penalties to put a stop to 'sex tourism', taking steps in the various countries to close travel agencies which are implicated in 'sex tours' and to eliminate the informal channels through which sex tourism thrives;

18. Calls for the fight against HIV/AIDS to be made an integral part of development policy and for HIV/AIDS policy to interlock with sexual and reproductive health programmes (including family planning and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases); looks to see research and training stepped up in the developing countries themselves;

19. Calls on the Commission to submit a feasibility study on support of local community-based initiatives to distribute condoms in Africa and to promote access to locally affordable pre-test and post-test counselling along with affordable methods of testing for HIV, and to promote the development of cheaper HIV tests for stored blood and blood products;

20. Considers that although respect is due to the cultural traditions of the various societies in the developing countries, the fight against AIDS and against the spread of HIV must not be checked or obstructed by exclusively religious considerations; calls on the Commission and the Member States, in the context of their health cooperation policies, to implement sex education policies which encourage the correct use of all methods of prevention whilst respecting local cultures;

21. Notes that in the countries themselves it has in many cases been possible to reach a pragmatic compromise with representatives of religious communities on attitudes to the use of condoms, and calls on the European Council to open a dialogue with high-ranking representatives of the world religions on this issue;

22. Calls for research into methods of contraception for women which would provide protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including the HIV/AIDS virus;

23. Stresses the need to improve the situation of existing statistics and proposes the establishment of a databank responsible for compiling and disseminating information and statistics to interested persons in the Member States of the Union and in the developing countries;

24. Notes that coordination of activities between the Community and the Member States is still inadequate and calls for its improvement with a programme of measures which should be integrated systematically into the Community's internal policy on AIDS and for the enhancement of Community and Member State human resources with expertise and experience in HIV/AIDS issues;

25. Strongly emphasizes that an effective campaign against AIDS in the developing countries must consist of a concerted effort on the part of the Community and Member States' health policies and to this end calls on the Commission and the individual Member States to coordinate their health cooperation programmes and their measures to combat AIDS in the individual countries and at regional level;

26. Is extremely concerned at the small amount of financial resources made available by the Community and the Member States for combating AIDS, as described in the communication, since, for the period 1994-1998 they amount to a minimum recommended level of ECU 199 million, less than for the period 1987-1992, when the disease was not on the present scale; calls therefore on the competent authorities to increase substantially international financial support for the fight against AIDS in the developing countries;

27. Notes with extreme concern the diminishing interest on the part of the international political community in the fight against AIDS and HIV and is concerned at the inaction on the part of many governments in this sector; therefore urges the whole international community to commit itself seriously to research into ways of defeating the disease or at least containing it, and calls on the United Nations to declare a 'Decade against AIDS' in order to coordinate the efforts of countries and research centres in this sector, with the aim of finding a vaccine against HIV as soon as possible;

28. Notes that the prosperous oil states and Japan are making hardly any contribution to world-wide anti-AIDS projects and calls on the Foreign Ministers meeting in the context of the CFSP to make representations to these countries;

29. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments of the Member States.