Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-08-Speech-4-052"
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"en.20050908.6.4-052"2
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".
Mr President, my reports always start with a quotation. On this occasion it is:
If that is difficult for the interpreters, that is the oldest language – or one of them – of Europe. It is Ovid, and it translates as 'Stop it at the start; it is late for medicine to be prepared when disease has grown strong through long delays'. That is my theme.
I very much welcome what the Commission has brought forward on HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. Its communication and then the programme for action are very welcome. We know that there were more new infections with AIDS in 2004 than in any previous year. We know that anti-retroviral prices are an increasingly serious public health hazard – that is a statement by the WHO. We know that malaria is giving real opportunity with the new drugs made from the plant
and we need to accelerate the production and distribution of that as well as of insecticide-protected nets.
With TB we need to recognise the link to AIDS – the multi-drug resistance versions which kill two million a year. I urge the Commission to carry on its good work on TB, AIDS and malaria and to renew its efforts in the neglected diseases, because they are also killing and debilitating people across the developing world.
In 2005, we have seen many health threats, and a new health threat on our agenda as Marburg has emerged in Angola with a mortality rate of over 90%. Europe responded swiftly, supporting
providing not just the powerful antibiotics and the intravenous fluids, but water purification systems and disposable, protective gear.
That is just one example of the need for vigilance, prevention and rapid response, just one reason why we must never 'cherry-pick' in our battle against disease. We must continue to tackle the big three of AIDS, TB and malaria, but just as many – or even more – people die, become chronically ill or live with disabilities caused by diseases that the world neglects. It is time to end that poverty of fatalism; it is time to bring neglected diseases in from the cold and to bring real hope to those who live with and, too often, die from these diseases.
Ten per cent of the world's biomedical research funds are dedicated to addressing the problems that are responsible for 90% of the world's burden of disease; that is the imbalance. At the end of 2004, for all neglected diseases, we had just 18 R[amp]D projects in clinical development and a further 42 on the way. While, for other diseases, we had 2 100 projects in clinical development.
Less than 1% of the 1 393 new drugs placed on the market between 1975 and 1999 were for infectious tropical diseases. Every year, 1.5 million children under five die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Patients suffering from sleeping sickness, leish-maniasis, dengue, trachoma and many others are given, too often, archaic drugs, some highly toxic, some ineffective. Some diseases are neglected because they are rare in western countries, so no market has emerged to develop such drugs. Some are neglected because western drugs are not made available or affordable.
In my case, I live with diabetes. I have access to western medicine, treatment and care. When we were in Mali for the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly, I went to visit the local diabetes support clinics. There were two – only in Bamako – and they could not afford the drugs or the insulin, so the result was amputations and blindness, liver disease and early deaths.
My call is for more research for neglected diseases and more support for care projects in developing countries.
Clinical research is slow and patchy. There is plenty of basic research and knowledge about parasites and genomes, but there needs to be more bridging research to translate basic research into tested and safe drugs and clinical applications.
I support very much the DNDi call for more research in this area, and I hope colleagues will sign up to its campaign. The call is also for more help – both available and affordable – for diseases which affect the developed world, like diabetes, epilepsy, depression and schizophrenia. Fifty-two million people are afflicted with epilepsy in our world; 80% of them are not treated; 70% could live seizure-free lives with comparatively cheap five-euros-a-day anti-epileptic drugs. The story goes on."@en1
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"Artemisia"1
"Principiis obstata; sero medicina paratur cum mala per longas convaluere moras."1
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