Overviews and Factsheets

Access to Generic HIV Drugs
After twenty years of medical scientific research, HIV treatment has changed dramatically. And yet, today, for the vast majority of the 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS, these treatments are completely inaccessible.  R
First International Summit for Access to Generic HIV Drugs

Access to Medicines: AIDS and Africa
Background on access to HIV/AIDS drugs in Africa, and Oxfam's position on the issue with respect to U.S. global AIDS policy.
Oxfam America

Drug companies and TRIPs
While people in rich countries enjoy the benefits of ever-improving drug treatments, in poor countries 30,000 people die every day because effective medicines are too expensive or simply not available.
Oxfam UK

Global Health Crisis
Each year, 14 million people in developing countries die from infectious diseases. Most of these people are too poor to afford medicines that could save or prolong their lives.
Oxfam America

Is the WTO drugs deal flawed?
As crucial trade talks get underway in Mexico, a much-heralded deal to give access to cheap medicines was announced by the World Trade Organisation. But many aid agencies were much more sceptical.
BBC, September 7, 2003

MSF Access to Essential Medicines - FAQs
An in-depth factsheet on the issues relating to access to essential medicines.
Medecins Sans Frontiere (MSF)

Patent injustice: the issues
A concise overview of the issue of access to affordable medicines and the global patent rules system that needs reform.
Oxfam UK

Patients Before Profits: TRIPS and Trade Rules on Intellectual Property
What is Intellectual Property, what does it have to do with access to affordable medicines in developing countries, why is this an issue of international trade, and what is Oxfam's position on these important issues?
Oxfam America

The Crisis of Neglected Diseases
14 million people die from treatable infectious and parasitic diseases every year, a quarter of all deaths worldwide. Over 90% of the victims live in developing countries.
Crisis of Neglected Diseases Conference

The Doha Declaration
An overview of the Doha Declaration, where WTO members affirmed in principle that intellectual property rights shall not supercede the right to public health.
Oxfam America

The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health
The "Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health" affirmed that "...the TRIPS Agreement can and should be interpreted in a manner supportive of WTO members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all".
Oxfam America

The WTO TRIPS Agreement & the Pharmaceutical Industry
An overview of TRIPS (International Trade Rules on Intellectual Property) and its relation to the pharmaceutical industry.
Oxfam America

TRIPS and Medicines
An overview of WTO TRIPS and its effect on medicine prices for poor countries.
Oxfam America

TRIPS and Medicines
Oxfam America

Patents, International Trade Law, & Access to Essential Medicines
The vast majority of people living in developing countries have limited or no access to many medicines that have saved and extended the lives of people in healthier developed countries. This information sheet answers some frequently asked questions about patents and international trade laws.
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network & Médecins Sans Frontières Canada

Priced out of Reach: How WTO patent policies will reduce access to medicines in the developing world
The forthcoming WTO summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to change global patent rules, known as the TRIPS agreement, so that vital medicines are not priced out of reach of people living in poverty. Action to prevent TRIPS from obstructing access to medicines is the litmus test for the WTO's commitment to make trade rules work for poverty reduction.
Oxfam UK

Unhealthy profits
The Sars epidemic this spring affected the world economy very quickly and was therefore fought publicly and urgently. This does not happen with the millions of annual deaths caused by ordinary yet preventable diseases. We live in a world where the diseases may be shared, but the remedies remain the private properties of wealthy nations and selfish industries.
German Velasquez, Le Monde Diplomatique, July 2003

Doha Derailed: A Progress Report on TRIPS and Access to Medicines
Since Doha, some Members have attacked both the spirit and intent of the Declaration, putting the interests of their pharmaceutical industries ahead of the health of the world’s poor. Meanwhile, other Members have been moving ahead to take measures that promote and protect the health of their populations, as supported by the Doha Declaration. In this progress report for the 5th Ministerial Conference at Cancún, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) assesses the progress and setbacks on the realisation of the Declaration, and outlines the next steps Members should take to meet their Doha obligations to "promote access to medicines for all."
MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Fatal Imbalance: The Crisis in Research and Development for Drugs for Neglected Diseases
Virtually no new drugs are being developed for diseases that predominantly affect the poor, according to this report by MSF.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), October 2001

Patent Injustice: How World Trade Rules Threaten the Health of Poor People
In-depth briefing paper looks at the global health divide and explains why the price of medicines is of such vital concern to poor people; explains the WTO’s rules on patents, and shows how patents raise the price of treatment for diseases affecting the poor; looks at the undue influence of pharmaceutical companies on the trade policies of industrialised countries and on the WTO; reviews some of the broader arguments for and against patents; and sets out an agenda for reform.
Oxfam UK

Patents, pills and public health
This report examines the pros and cons of the TRIPS agreement for the developing world. It outlines different ways of ensuring access to essential drugs for all, including the poorest. And it stresses the importance of‑ensuring a public debate in every country that will put the issues of patenting, pills and public health under a spotlight.
The Panos Institute

TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents and Access to Essential Medicines: Seattle, Doha and Beyond
Medecins Sans Frontieres

Formula for Fairness: Patient Rights Before Patent Rights (report on Pfizer)
Calls on pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. to do more to make drugs available in poor countries where nearly 40,000 people die daily from preventable diseases. Oxfam calls particularly for Pfizer and other drug companies to drop their efforts to block the sale of generic drugs in poor countries, allowing instead for a tiered pricing system and flexibility in licensing.
Oxfam America

Malaria: Number one killer of children in Africa too expensive to treat effectively?
Report released by MSF shows this myth is unfounded.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Myths vs. Reality: Distortions About AIDS Drugs & The Developing World
As the Global AIDS and Health Fund emerges from the vision of advocates worldwide to become a reality, many news articles have appeared focusing on problems associated with providing AIDS drugs to people dying of HIV/AIDS in the developing world. The intent of this document is to place several of the common themes of these articles in their true, undistorted context.
Health GAP, June 2001

Pills and pocketbooks
Equity pricing of essential medicines in developing countries. Essential drugs are not a luxury that should be reserved for the wealthy. Rather, access to essential medicines should be guaranteed as a critical component of the human right to health.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Striking a Balance: Patents and Access to Drugs and Health Care
Overview of the debate drug-related patents by WIPO, the specialized agency of the United Nations mandated with managing intellectual property issues and standards on an international level.  R
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)

The Global AIDS Crisis: Human Rights, International Pharmaceutical Markets and Intellectual Property
Alan Berkman, MD, Health GAP Coalition

The Plagues of Poverty
The illnesses that make up 90 percent of the global disease burden get only 10 percent of the research money because they primarily affect poor countries.
The New York Times, March 19, 2002

The Rationale of Essential Medicines
Essential drugs are one of the most cost-effective elements in modern health care and their potential health impact is remarkable. This year alone, there will be over 40 million deaths in developing countries, one-third among children under age five. Ten million will be due to acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria -- all conditions for which safe, inexpensive, essential drugs can be life-saving.
World Health Organization

The world's most neglected diseases
Ignored by the pharmaceutical industry and by public-private partnerships
Gavin Yamey, The British Medical Journal, July 2002

Trade rules and cheap drugs
Negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have failed to meet a deadline to reach a deal on making sure poorer countries have access to cheap drugs. BBC News Online looks at why agreement is so hard to reach.  R
BBC News Online, 12/21/2002

TRIPS, Patents and Access to Medicines: Proposals for Clarification and Reform
This briefing paper discusses some issues relevant to the discussion on the TRIPS Agreement, patents and access to affordable medicines.
Third World Network, June 2001

Urgent need to kick-start R&D for killer diseases in poor countries
International experts call for new public initiatives and global support
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)