Canada shrugged as the United Nations issued a plea this weekend for help for millions of people in Africa and other poor regions who are fighting AIDS with scant access to life-saving drugs.

Well, Canada didn’t shrug exactly.

It was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government that decided to usher in World AIDS Day on Saturday by killing a bid in Parliament to speed more low-cost drugs to the poorest countries. Bill C-398, put forward by New Democrat MP Hélène Laverdière, would have made it easier for our generic drug firms to copy patented AIDS drugs and sell them to poor countries at cut-rate prices, while paying royalties to the patent holders. A strong majority of Canadians favour such action.

But for years, the Harper government has trotted out one unpersuasive objection after another. They claimed it would violate our trade obligations, until international experts refuted them. Then they argued that it would hurt Big Pharma, until the major drug firms announced they wouldn’t object (subject to a few minor caveats). Then they argued that plenty of generics were available, although half the people who need them don’t get them. When all else failed, the Tories just flexed their majority Wednesday and killed the bill.

As Stephen Lewis, the UN’s former AIDS envoy, rightly observed, the Conservatives “have chosen patent protection over the lives of children.” Some 330,000 children were infected with HIV last year, 90 per cent in Africa. One in four will get treatment.

Medical advances have given hope to those with HIV, provided they have access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs. But too few do. Worldwide, 34 million people live with the disease, but only half of those who are eligible receive the treatment. Last year 1.7 million died from AIDS-related diseases.

Critics of C-398, including Keith Martin, a former MP and physician, argue that Canada needn’t aspire to be a global leader in pumping out generic drugs for a couple of reasons. First, most of the essential AIDS drugs are already available in generic form. Countries such as India and Brazil have overtaken us in churning them out. Second, the challenge in Africa is poverty, not access to drugs. People can’t afford even cheap generics, and health systems are too weak to provide follow-up care.

But the UN AIDS agency takes a different view in a recent report.

While basic, first-line generic drugs are available, the UN warns that isn’t nearly enough. “Further reducing the cost of antiretroviral therapy will be essential,” the UN says, “especially for the second- and third-line regimens that will increasingly be needed in future years.” The UN urges countries to make full use of “flexibilities permitted under international regulations” — that would include mechanisms such as C-398 — because harnessing intellectual property to promote public health “will play a critical role” in saving lives. It also warns against policies that “potentially undermine access to affordable, life-saving medicines and health technologies.”

The Tories, in their folly, have moved in the opposite direction.

On the issue of money, the UN is also clear. The world spends $17 billion fighting HIV, but there’s a $5-billion to $7-billion shortfall. On this score, Canada is pulling its weight by giving $180 million this year to the $3.65-billion Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. That’s 5 per cent of the total. We’re the sixth most generous donor. Still, the overall effort is well short of what’s needed to ensure universal access to cheap or free drugs and to follow-up care.

A decade ago, Canada was poised to be a leader in providing life-saving drugs to millions. Today, under the Harper government, we’re content to let leadership slide and throw some money at the problem. It’s a comedown, and a betrayal of our promise.

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