About 800 young people gathered to lobby their MPs and get a message through to Hilary Benn: G8 ministers can’t ignore their promise of prevention of and treatment for HIV by 2010.

The main things we were asking Benn to persuade the G8 Development ministers to enforce were:

• a long-term funding plan for Universal Access to HIV treatment by 2010
• a guarantee that there is enough money to carry the plan out
• to allow the production of generic medicines which are less costly than the patented second line medicines
• to reinforce the current health systems in developing countries and address the immediate problem of the shortage of workers
• to support women and children who are living with HIV, including universal access to treatments that can prevent mother to child transmission of HIV.

Guest speakers included Aditi Sharma and Hilary Benn. Sharma talked about the places most affected by HIV: India and Africa. She said we are currently at a ‘crossroads’ because, although a lot has been achieved in improving conditions where HIV has progressed, there is still a lot lacking.

She said that developing countries should not be bullied into signing patent measures. As this was one of the main aims to be reached by 2010, I was eager to hear what Benn had to say.

Benn suggested ‘patent pooling’ as a useful alternative to patenting second hand medicines. This involves countries sharing their scientific knowledge with each other to reduce the cost of HIV treatment.

This was not the alternative we were hoping for, however – we were lobbying for countries to be allowed to produce generic medicines. Rich countries might use this new research as a way to continue bullying developing countries into complying with their norms.

Also, Benn seemed to consider changing the attitudes of ministers more important than obtaining enough money from countries.

Sharma refuted this and said it was more important that the development ministers decide which countries should give to the HIV fund and how much rather than letting the countries decide themselves.

I was impressed with my local MP, Susan Kramer, and how knowledgeable she was about the issue.

The vital point I gathered was that governments need to be a lot more creative when introducing women to HIV treatment. They need to get rid of the unnecessary stigma that surrounds women who are HIV+ and stop husbands pressuring their wives to give up treatment.

Overall, the day was very productive. Most people were very determined to lobby and pressure their MPs, who were mostly positive with their responses. This shows that changing attitudes is not the main problem anymore, but rather addressing the big gap in funding.