Health equity in economic and trade policies

Abbott's abrupt decision to withdraw seven pending registration applications, including one for a new heat-stable form of Kaletra, and its threat to make Thailand a no-drug zone for all new Abbott medicines is a truly appalling example of corporate hubris. After touting itself to the be the engine of new life-saving discoveries, Abbott is now willing to withhold medicines altogether in order to extract even greater intellectual property concessions from developing countries.

A bipartisan group of Senators today introduced the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007, a comprehensive bill to help sub-Saharan African nations confront the alarming shortage of health workers; thirteen countries on the continent have fewer than 5 physicians per 100,000 people. The United States has 549 physicians per 100,000 people. "Increased funding from governments and private donors to expand health services holds the promise of saving millions of lives in Africa. But, a severe shortage of health workers on the ground represents a tight bottleneck slowing the flow of resources to patients who need them," said Dr Paul Farmer, medical anthropologist and a founder of Partners In Health. "Sub-Saharan Africa faces a shortage of more than 800,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives and an overall shortage of 1.5 million healthcare workers. The bill introduced, particularly with its focus on harnessing the power of paid community health workers, is a much needed step toward closing this gap."

The global community has no hope of ending the AIDS pandemic as long as the interests of drug companies are rated higher than the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries. The innovations of the pharmaceutical industry have transformed AIDS, at least in the western world, from a virtual death sentence into a chronic, treatable disease. Our aim is not to destroy the geese that lay the golden eggs. However, a balance must—and can— be struck between protecting profits and protecting people’s lives. Drug companies are in the business of protecting profits. It is incumbent upon the citizens of the global community to protect people’s lives.

The article describes international campaigns that are trying to defend the access of poor people in the world to pharmaceuticals. Both campaigns are calling for the rules of a World Trade Organization agreement called Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property to be upheld. The pharmaceutical company Novartis is bringing the government of India to court for not granting a patent to the company for the cancer drug imatinib mesylate. India only grants patents for medicines that are new and innovative. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization of Thailand wishes to make a generic version of the drug efavirenz. The US government and the pharmaceutical company Merck believe that the Thai government should have asked Merck's permission first before developing the drug.