The countries in eastern and southern Africa and the East African Community are at various stages of enacting laws to address counterfeiting. Substandard and fasified medicines are a problem for public health if they lack the active ingredients that make them effective, or if they are harmful. Yet making quality, safety and efficacy an intellectuual property issue, and defining counterfeiting so widely as to include generic medicines have even greater potential public harm, as they may make these essential medicines available as branded versions, at significantly higher cost. This policy brief draws policy makers attention to the need to ensure that counterfeit laws do not include generic medicines and that falsified medicines are dealt with under public health and not ntellectual propoperty law. It discusses the key issues in these laws and draft laws and how they are likely to affect public health and access to essential medicines in the region.
Latest Equinet Updates
Leaflet on EQUINET: A Rede Regional para a Equidade em saúde na África oriental e austral (EQUINET) é uma rede de profi ssionais, membros da sociedade civil, formuladores de diretrizes políticos, ofi ciais do estado e outros dentro desta região que se juntaram como catalisadores de equidade, para poder promover e realizar os valores compartilhadas da equidade e justice social na saúde.
Briefing leaflet on EQUINET. Le Réseau Régional sur l’Equité en matière de santé en Afrique orientale et australe (EQUINET) est un réseau de professionnels, membres de la société civile, décideurs, employés gouvernementaux et autres personnalités de la région qui se sont réunis pour mettre en oeuvre une politique en matière d’équité, ce afi n de promouvoir et défi nir des valeurs communes en matière d’équité et de justice sociale au niveau de la santé.
EQUINET September 2009 Conference Resolutions translated into French: Plus de 200 employés gouvernementaux, parlementaires, membres de la société civile, professionnels de santé, chercheurs, universitaires et décideurs, mais aussi les membres des Nations Unies, d’organisations internationales et non-gouvernementales d’Afrique orientale et Australe se sont rassemblés à la troisième Conférence Régionale de EQUINET sur l’Équité en Matière de Santé en Afrique Orientale et Australe, qui s’est tenue du 23 au 25 septembre 2009 au complexe hôtelier de Munyonyo à Kampala. Les délégués ont reconnu des inégalités significatives, grandissantes, évitables et injustes en matière de santé et de ressources de santé dans nos pays, notre région et notre monde. Comme la Commission de l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé sur les Déterminants Sociaux de la Santé, nous sommes conscients que cette injustice sociale est en train de décimer certaines populations à une grande échelle. Bien que nous ayons dans notre région les ressources de santé nécessaires, nous notons que beaucoup d’entre elles, dont les professionnels de santé, quittent l’Afrique. Nos ressources restantes atteignent par conséquent rarement les personnes les plus démunies. Ceux qui en ont le plus besoin n’y accèdent pas suite aux contraintes économiques, causée par cette inégalité.
This is a report of a workshop for a project that TARSC and Country Minders for People’s Development (CMPD), under the auspices of EQUINET, undertook as a pilot to explore options for participatory communications with the community-based organisations and some of the orphans and vulnerable children in Monkey Bay, Tanzania.
EQUINET September 2009 Conference Resolutions translated into Portuguese: Mais de 200 oficiais de governo, membros de parlamento, membros de sociedade civil, trabalhadores de saúde, pesquisadores, acadêmicos, e executores de política assim como pessoal das Nações Unidas, e organizações internacionais bem como não governamentais de Africa Oriental e Austral, encontraram na terceira conferência regional da EQUINET sobre Equidade em Saúde em África, realizado entre 23-25 setembro 2009, em Munyonyo, Kampala.
This report presents a detailed desk review providing the constitutional provisions of the right to health in 15 countries in east and southern Africa (ESA): Angola, Botswana, Congo-Brazzaville, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The review was carried out within the Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) by the Center for Health, Human Right and Development. This paper used the six core obligations as spelt out in General Comment 14 to assess the inclusion of the right to health in the constitutional provisions of the ESA countries: to ensure the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalised groups; to ensure access to the minimum essential food which is nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure freedom from hunger to everyone; to ensure access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe and potable water; to provide essential drugs, as from time to time defined under the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs; to ensure equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods and services; and to adopt and implement a national public health strategy and plan of action.
The countries in eastern and southern Africa and the East African Community are at various stages of enacting laws to address counterfeiting. Counterfeiting is a problem for public health if counterfeit medicines lack the active ingredients that make them effective, or if they are harmful. Yet laws that define counterfeiting so widely as to include generic medicines have even greater potential public harm, as they may make these essential medicines available as branded versions, at significantly higher cost. This policy brief draws policy makers’ attention to the need to ensure that counterfeit laws do not inadvertently include generic medicines. It discusses the key issues in these laws and draft laws and how they are likely to affect public health and access to essential medicines in the region.
Least developed countries have until 2016 to reform their IP regimes and enact new patent laws in line with Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A number of amendments to the TRIPS agreement were made – TRIPS 'flexibilities' – to take care of the health-related concerns of developing countries. Member states have the authority to use these flexibilities when this is necessary to protect public health and to promote access to medicines. The Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), under the umbrella of the Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET), carried out an assessment of LDCs in East and Southern Africa with regard to their progress towards the new intellectual property (IP) regimes. The study reviewed the situation in sixteen east and southern African countries through a desk review of published and grey literature. The study found that most of the IP regimes currently in ESA countries were in existence before the TRIPS agreement was adopted. These included laws that provide some flexibilities, which were in most cases not being implemented. Only Mauritius and Zambia have formally adopted the protocol amending the TRIPS agreement at the WTO. The December 2009 deadline has been further extended to the end of December 2011 and it is important for all ESA countries to formally adopt the proposal by then to avoid unnecessary renegotiations of the TRIPS amendments. This paper presents a number of recommendations on how ESA countries should apply and implement the TRIPS flexibilities.
The Regional Network on Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET) is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health. This brief outlines EQUINET's mission, organisation, areas of work and resources.