Title: National Judges Training on Intellectual Property Rights, Enforcement and Public Health
Date: 11-12 April, 2019
Venue: The Supreme Court of Justice, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Organizers: The South Centre and the Supreme Court of Justice Paraguay
Menace of drug resistance growing
By Anthony D So
This week the Prince Mahidol Awards conference will bring a global spotlight to the threat of emerging infectious diseases. The growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will feature prominently in these discussions. The timing could not be better, but we urgently need to see more action on the part of the UN Interagency Coordination Group on AMR and key intergovernmental agencies gathering in Bangkok. (more…)
Heading off Global Action on Access to Medicines in 2018
By Dr. Jorge Bermudez and Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien
At the dawn of 2018, political and health leaders must seize the growing momentum and opportunities to tackle the protracted challenges of access to medicines that undermine efforts to save lives and improve health as committed under the Agenda 2030 SDG by all UN member states. (more…)
Action Needed to Avoid the End of Modern Medicine
By Martin Khor
As global health leaders warn that antibiotic resistance is leading to the end of modern medicine, the World Health Organization (WHO) issues guidelines to prohibit or restrict using antibiotics to feed animals reared for their meat. Urgent coordinated actions are needed to avoid the end of modern medicine. The author Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre. This article was also published by Inter Press Service (IPS) (more…)
Intellectual Property for the TwentyFirst-Century Economy
By Joseph E. Stiglitz , Dean Baker , Arjun Jayadev
Developing countries are increasingly pushing back against the intellectual property regime foisted on them by the advanced economies over the last 30 years. They are right to do so, because what matters is not only the production of knowledge, but also that it is used in ways that put the health and wellbeing of people ahead of corporate profits. (more…)
Reflections on World Health Day
By Martin Khor
What’s the most precious thing in the world which unfortunately we take for granted and realise it true value when it is impaired? Good health, of course. That’s something many people must have reminded themselves as they celebrated World Health Day on 7 April. Attaining good health and well-being may be a top priority goal, but achieving it is elusive for almost everyone, and next to impossible for the poor. (more…)
Avoid patent clauses in trade treaties that can kill millions
By Martin Khor
A recent article in a prestigious journal reminds us of how the intellectual property chapter of free trade agreements can prevent the sick from getting treatment. This article also critiques the TPP clauses and warns that they should not be translated to national laws or copied into other FTAs being negotiated. (more…)
On World AIDS Day, threat to access to medicines looms large
By Shailly Gupta
Today millions of people living with HIV in South-East Asia are receiving treatment and leading healthy lives thanks to affordable generic antiretroviral (ARVs) medicines. Governments and treatment providers across Asia, such as the government of Indonesia and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), patients across our missions in many countries, depend on an uninterrupted supply of affordable generic HIV medicines to reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in the region. But as the trade negotiators from 16 countries gather in Indonesia next week to deliberate the terms of a trade agreement — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP), access to low-cost generic medicines is under grave threat. (more…)
Actions Needed Urgently to Tackle Air Pollution – Part 2
By Martin Khor
Actions are urgently needed to curb air pollution, which has emerged as the biggest threat to health and the environment, and they need to be taken at global and national levels. (This is the second of two articles on air pollution.) This article was published by Inter Press Service (IPS) on 14 November 2016. (more…)
Air Pollution Emerges as a Top Killer Globally – Part 1
By Martin Khor
New research is showing that air pollution is a powerful if silent killer, causing 6.5 million worldwide deaths as well as being the major cause of climate change. Air pollution has emerged as a leading cause of deaths and serious ailments in the world. Emissions that cause air pollution and are Greenhouse Gases are also the main factor causing climate change. Therefore, drastically reducing air pollution should now be treated as a top priority. (more…)
Uruguay’s victory over Philip Morris: a win for tobacco control and public health
By Germán Velásquez
In a landmark decision that has been hailed as a victory of public health measures against narrow commercial interests, an international tribunal has dismissed a claim by tobacco giant company Philip Morris that the Uruguay government violated its rights by instituting tobacco control measures. The ruling had been much anticipated as it was the first international case brought against a government for taking measures to curb the marketing of tobacco products. (more…)
The grant of patents and the exorbitant cost of “lifesaving” drugs
By Germán Velásquez
The important relationship between the examination of patents carried out by national patent offices and the right of citizens to access to medicines hasn’t always been well understood. Too often these are viewed as unrelated functions or responsibilities of the state. And the reason is clear: patentability requirements are not defined by patent offices, but frequently by the courts, tribunals, legislation or treaty negotiators. This is the case when patent policy is implemented in isolation from, rather than guided by, public health policy. (more…)
