Press Release: From Cape Town to Marrakesh
Pan African Treatment Access Movement -PATAM-
19 December 2006
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African activists hosted by the Association de Lutte Contre le SIDA (ALCS) in Morocco met in Marrakesh to strengthen the Pan African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) and strategize on the campaign and for access to treatment for all people living with HIV/AIDS on the continent and reiterated their commitment to strengthen African communities in treatment advocacy.

Out of the world's 40 million people living with HIV, 29 million are in Africa and of these, 4,6 millions are in need of antiretroviral drugs in Sub Saharan Africa. However, only 23% have access to these life-saving drugs. "Although Africa is the hotbed of the epidemic, it has the lowest proportion of people that are on treatment.
This is unacceptable and the situation needs to be addressed urgently. We urge African governments to work their talks by committing more resources to ensuring sustainable access to treatment by implementing African Union earlier positions such as committing fifteen percent of national budgets to health care and the declaration for Universal access
contained in the Abuja declaration. In the same vein, the international community must increase its contribution towards efficient instruments aimed at fighting AIDS such as the Global Fund," said Rolake Odetoyinbo from the Treatment Access Movement (TAM) in Nigeria. The activists expressed their concern about the urgent need for second line treatment, drugs for opportunistic infections that have been neglected and the availability of diagnostics. We completely abhor a situation where treatable and preventable opportunistic infections are ignored and our countries just wait for us to have AIDS before
we are treated. "We will not be on first-line treatment forever and we are already developing resistance to some drugs. Second line treatment should be made cheaper and available as a matter of survival and to sustain the gains made so far from treatment," said James Kamau, from the Kenyan Treatment Access Movement (KETAM).

PATAM is an Africa-wide movement formed of activists and civil society organizations advocating for access to comprehensive treatment and care for people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa. It was founded in Cape Town in 2002 by activists from 22 African countries
during the International Treatment Preparedness Summit (ITPS) to mobilize for access to
treatment. The movement will continue to empower activists in local communities, ensure greater involvement of communities in decision-making, promote the participation of PLHWA through in-depth treatment literacy and magnify the voices of vulnerable groups in line with PATAM's Pan African advocacy efforts. To strengthen solidarity between the continent's regions in the fight against AIDS, and bring to fore the issues of all African regions, PATAM's secretariat moved from South Africa to Morocco where it is going to be hosted by ALCS. Though we face unique problems and battle different issues, we will support ourselves, raise our voices together and fight as one Africa.

For more information contact: Othman Mellouk - o.mellouk@menara.com or Rolake Odetoyinbo - rolakeodetoyinbo@gmail.com