Access to affordable medicines under attack

One of the most contentious issues – one that continues to be deadlocked – is the issue of access to vital medicines for developing countries. The US has proposed an agreement that includes intellectual property provisions that would severely restrict access to affordable medicines for people in developing countries.

The question is how to revise WTO patent rules to make generic drugs more affordable to the millions of people across the world in dire need of them.

Several developed countries, under immense pressure from their pharmaceutical lobbies, have been fighting to maintain the status quo, which puts affordable medicine way beyond the reach for most of their citizens. A continued deadlock on this issue only serves to underscore that the Doha Development Round is a development round in name only. The restrictive approach to the scope of coverage (e.g.: including only a handful of infectious diseases) is utterly unacceptable. To me, the notion of tying human health issues to unrelated trade concessions seems to be grossly ruthless.

Today Médecins Sans Frontières, (MSF), urged countries in the Americas to reject US efforts to strengthen intellectual property (IP) protection beyond global standards in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations.

"People in Guatemala already have frightening little access to essential medicines," says Luis Villa, MSF's Head of Mission in Guatemala. "67,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Guatemala, but only 1,500 receive antiretroviral treatment. MSF is treating almost one-third of them with quality generic drugs. If the ability to buy generics is restricted, it will become almost impossible to treat people with HIV AIDS. Many will die as a result."

Read more from the MSF website.
If you beleive that medicines shouldn't be a luxury, you can take part in their petition