Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Local campaigner tells Government to keep its promise on HIV treatment for all by 2010
More than 200 back petition and take part in mass lobby of Parliament
Local campaigners Jenny Commin, Maeve McGoldricle, Matthew Commin and Mark Allred took the campaign for AIDS treatment to the Houses of Parliament today (March 20, 2007).
Jenny, Maeve, Matthew and Mark from the Lewes constituency, urged local MP Norman Baker to push the Government to keep its promise to provide treatment for AIDS for all who need it by 2010.
As part of a day of action more than 200 hundred campaigners from all over the country headed to London to meet with Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn and participate in a mass lobby of Parliament.During the day campaigners presented the final hand in of the ‘access denied’ action card petition.
The event took place just days before Hilary Benn attends the G8 Development Ministers Meeting in Berlin, a key opportunity to urge international action on meeting the Universal Access target. The ‘Keep the Promise’ campaign began two years ago after the UK led world leaders to promise ‘as close as possible to universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010’ during the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in Scotland.
From outside the Houses of Parliament campaigner Maeve McGoldricle said:
"I believe this is a vitally important issue and with just three years to go, over 75% of people urgently needing HIV treatment are not receiving it. Without much stronger leadership the targets set will inevitably be missed, and millions will needlessly die because of political inertia. The UK Government led others in making global promises on HIV; it now must lead the way in keeping them."
Norman Baker MP said:
"I am pleased that young people in my constituency are campaigning on this important issue, and I congratulate them on their efforts.
"It is tragic that despite the commitment made by G8 countries in 2005 to creating as near to universal access as possible for all those requiring HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010, the world is not on course to meet this Millennium Development Goal. 38.6 m individuals worldwide now live with HIV, 8000 people world wide die from AIDS-related illnesses everyday and, in some parts of the world, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people with HIV has even increased.
"The UK Government has made the important step of pledging to double its contribution to the UNAIDS programme but we are still falling $20-23 billion a year short of the total needed to meet the 2010 goal. I hope other countries will now match this."