Further Resources on Access to Essential Medicines

In this toolkit:

• Information on Access to Essential Medicines [6], AIDS & Essential Medicines [7], and The Medicines Patent Pool [5].
• Planning Resources: Leading a Successful National Action [4]
• Action Guide: How to Mobilize Your Campus For Universal Access [1]
• Medicines Patent Pool letter [2]

On the Student Blog:

Check out our series of blog posts on this issue at http://phrstudents.org/ [3]. You can find more facts, analysis and resources here.  Once you register or update your profile at http://phrstudents.org/register/ [8], you can share ideas with other students in the online community.

Reports and Factsheets

• Health in Ruins: A Man-Made Disaster in Zimbabwe (January 2009) [9]

An Emergency Report by Physicians for Human Rights

This PHR report documents the dramatic deterioration of Zimbabwe’s public health system since August 2008 and underscores the role of the Government of Zimbabwe in accelerating this collapse in health services.  The government continues to abrogate the most basic state functions in protecting the health of the population.  Given the numerous health crises within Zimbabwe (cholera, anthrax, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, high maternal morbidity and mortality), access to essential medicines is a linchpin to adequate health service provision.  Nearly all providers interviewed experienced drug and medical supply shortages – or noted their absence altogether.

• MDG Gap Task Force Report 2010 (September 16, 2010) [15]

This is the second report from the MDG Gap Task Force and it outlines progress achieved with respect to Millennium Development Goal 8 (Develop a global partnership for development) and its related targets in the areas of essential medicines (see pages 57-67), official development assistance, trade, external debt and technology.

• Prescription for Healthy Development: Increasing Access to Medicines (2005) [16]

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Task Force on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and Access to Essential Medicines

• UNITAID Factsheet: The Medicines Patent Pool initiative (July 2010) [14]

Websites

• WHO Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies [13]

Campaigns

• MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines [10]

Medecines Sans Frontieres (MSF) [Doctors Without Borders]

• Universities Allied for Essential Medicines

News

In recent months, the EU and India have been working to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) seeking convergence on market access and intellectual property rights.  The implications of this trade agreement are far-reaching, given that India’s pharmaceutical industry is considered to be the world’s third largest by volume.  The terms of this trade agreement could drastically affect the supply of medicine to the developing world and is therefore a hot-button issue in the conversation on access to essential medicines.  See the articles below for more information:

• “Commission and New Delhi in Fresh FTA Push”

Europolitics

April 6, 2011

• “Indian Pharma Firms, NGOs Oppose EU Free Trade Deal” [11]

EurActiv

March 14, 2011

• “AFRICA: EU-India deal could threaten access to essential HIV drugs” [12]

IRIN News (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

November 22, 2010

• “EU deal threatens HIV drug supplies” [17]

Al Jazeera News

November 4, 2010