Monday 10 February

OPENING REMARKS BY MARK HEYWOOD AND VUYISEKA DUBULA TO GLOBAL ACTIVIST MEETING ON THE MEDICINES PATENT POOL (MPP) AND VOLUNTARY LICENSES

We are joined today by over 40 activists from all parts of the world, including organisations of people living with HIV, MSF, as well as individual experts and lawyers who have fought for the rights of people to access affordable quality medicines. In this room is the residue of experience from the many successful battles that changed the landscape of the response to HIV and in doing so has prevented millions of deaths.

SECTION27 publishes the “SECTION27 REVIEW, April 2010 – December 2011”

“ … a great deal has been accomplished. But a great deal remains to be done … this journey has only just begun. Yet millions of lives depend upon it.” — From the forward by Vuyiseka Dubula, Chairperson of the SECTION27 Board of Directors

SECTION27 is pleased to announce the publication of the “SECTION27 REVIEW”.

The “SECTION27 REVIEW” is available by clicking “Read more” below, or by contacting Tummy Seboko (by email at seboko@section27.org.za or by phone at 011 356 4100).

The “SECTION27 REVIEW” reports on the work of SECTION27 from April 2010 to December 2011 and also assesses important aspects of the government’s compliance with its duties under section 27 of the South African Constitution. It features an introduction by the Executive Director, Mark Heywood, an organisational report, and essays by Mark Heywood, Adila Hassim and Jonathan Berger.

SECTION27 leader speaks on AIDS and human rights in China

On Monday 5th July Mark Heywood, the director of SECTION27, was one of the keynote speakers at the launch of China’s first ever forum between the Chinese government and civil society representatives to talk about human rights issues linked to HIV/AIDS. The China Red Ribbon Beijing Forum as it is known was opened by the Vice Minister of Health, Yin Li, UNAIDS and a person living with HIV. Heywood spoke on the importance of engagement between government and civil society on issues of human rights.

Justice and the Treatment Action Campaign by Mark Heywood

It is a terrible irony that the need for an effective and ongoing response to the AIDS epidemic will be one of the defining legacies left to the ANC by a President who tried to deny the existence of HIV. It is also ironic that the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an organization that Mbeki once branded as ‘flag carrier for pharmaceutical companies’, is heralded one of the few organizations that was able to force a complete overturn policy in an area defined and defended by himself, during his Presidency.

WDA