Leaders of the international pharmaceutical industry said yesterday that if global trading rules on patents are loosened, it could negatively impact research and development of AIDS drugs.
Equity in Health
Drug Firms Say Easing Patent Restrictions Could Hurt Research
MALARIA: Disease Kills Record Number In Namibia
A record number of people have died in Namibia so far this year from malaria, the government announced Friday, with the number of deaths up 70 percent from last year.
Mbeki plays down AIDS and orders a rethink on spending
South African president Thabo Mbeki has once again alarmed doctors and health professionals with a letter he wrote to his health minister last month ordering a re-examination of health and social policy, spending, and research in the light of figures on deaths from AIDS.
Scientists react to US attacks with shock and fears for the future
Scientific leaders must now think beyond their immediate emotional responses and consider the practical consequences of the current crisis. Today's scientific enterprise relies heavily on international collaboration, the free exchange of data, and unrestricted travel. In the current unstable geopolitical climate, it is unclear how each of these will be affected.
South Africa: Health Mec Admits Appalling State of Public Hospitals
Health MEC Dr Bevan Goqwana admitted the legislature's health committee report damning the appalling state of public hospitals in the province reflected the "reality of the situation".
SOUTH AFRICA: Religious leaders and AIDS activists urge government to declare AIDS national emergency
South African religious leaders and AIDS activists appealed to the government on Thursday to declare the HIV pandemic a national emergency and to provide the leadership needed to fight it. "No one in our country can afford to deny the terrible extent of this epidemic," the group said in a statement.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28876
South Africa: Technology Benefits Not Available to All
Technology is not delivering healthcare services to a large number of lowincome groups covered by medical aid, says Robert Dale, marketing director of Telg Africa.
Swaziland: Five Year Sex Ban Imposed for Young Women
The Swaziland government has announced a five-year sex ban for young women in a bid to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. The ban was announced on Sunday evening by the leader of Swaziland's young women, Lungile Ndlovu, who said the elders of the nation had deemed it fitting, AFP reported.
World Health Report 2000
Commentary: comprehensive approaches are needed for full understanding
Christopher J L Murray, executive director. Evidence and Information for Policy, World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Braveman et al criticise the World Health Organiztion's approach of measuring the full spectrum of health inequalities in a population. They argue for a selective approach in which only health inequalities correlated with factors such as income, social class, or race should matter. Such a selective approach runs counter to the literature on inequality in other disciplines and runs the risk of discouraging scientific inquiry into the causes of inequality.
Contact: murrayc@who.ch
World Health Report 2000:
how it removes equity from the agenda for public health monitoring and policy
Paula Braveman, professor of family and community medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; Barbara Starfield, university distinguished professor, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MA, USA; H Jack Geiger, Logan professor of community medicine, emeritus c., City University of New York Medical School, Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, New York, NY, USA. BMJ September 22, 2001;323 678-681.
The World Health Organization’s World Health Report 2000 deserves praise for recommending that national health systems be assessed not only by the average health status of a country’s population but also by the extent to which health varies within the population. We are concerned, however, that the report’s approach to measuring health inequalities does not support -- and actually undermines -- efforts to achieve greater equity in health within nations, according to any meaningful definition of equity. We believe that the report’s measure of health inequalities lacks practical utility in general for guiding national policy because it provides no information to guide resource allocation or to target policies. In addition, it does not measure socioeconomic or other social disparities in health within countries. It therefore -- when used, as its authors implicitly and explicitly recommend, as a substitute for monitoring social inequalities in health -- removes consideration of equity and human rights from the routine measurement and reporting of health disparities within nations.