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Poverty, Prejudice Hinder India's AIDS Fight Washington Post In the fight against the AIDS epidemic, India is also fighting poverty and prejudice--two critical issues that prevent HIV-infected people from being able to afford medical help and being accepted for help. Yusuf Hamied, the owner of Cipla, an Indian drug company, started a battle between major pharmaceutical companies and foreign governments, as he recently offered to sell copies of their patented drugs at lower cost to developing countries. Last month, Hamied offered AIDS cocktail drugs for $350 annually per patient to a doctor's charity that works with AIDS patients in Africa. Normally, the cocktails sell for $10,000 to $15,000 in the West. Cipla's foreign drug rivals say his interests are not altruistic, but rather a selfish way to gain a monopoly in India and in developing nations of much needed drugs. However, Hamied explains his offer by noting that "in five years, we will probably have 35 million HIV-positive people [in India]. If we do nothing about it, India will become another Africa, and then it will be too late." The Indian government has undertaken major steps to initiate awareness programs and control the spread of HIV, but AIDS remains widely misunderstood due to strong national cultural taboos and a lack of education.
—Posted: March 7, 2001
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