These Patents Make Me Sick!: AIDS In Africa

Directors
Rony Brauman, Gerard Lafont, Anne-Christine Roth
Etat d'Urgence Productions (EUP), Paris, France
52 minutes

Synopsis
Through first-hand testimonies from people living with and doctors treating HIV/AIDS, These Patents Make Me Sick! portrays rare situations where antiretroviral (ARV) treatment is available in sub-Saharan Africa. The documentary examines a wide range of obstacles that continue to deny effective HIV/AIDS treatment to the majority of people who need it in this region, home to 10% of the world's population and two thirds of all people living with HIV.

What is the role of international trade laws and patents in keeping ARV medicines out of Africa? Why have African governments been so slow to provide ARV treatment to those who need it? How has the pharmaceutical industry aided or abetted the availability of effective treatment? Are local medical structures capable of implementing complex treatments, and do the medical staff have sufficient training? And what are the alternatives for people in need of treatment while politicians and economists debate or ignore their fate?

These questions are raised in an attempt to understand the almost complete absence of ARV therapy in the world's poorest and most affected countries. We hear from economists, politicians, HIV/AIDS specialists, AIDS activists, and members of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)'s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign as they discuss the role of intellectual property rights, the pharmaceutical industry, the international community and affected governments in the provision (and denial) of effective HIV/AIDS treatment.