Overview 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

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

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 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 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

Global Treatment Access Campaign
Global network for communication and organization towards access to essential medications for HIV and other diseases.

Health GAP (Global Access Project)
A U.S. coalition of organizations fighting against the inequalities of access to health treatment between North and South. Campaigns for drug access and the resources necessary to sustain access for people with HIV/AIDS across the globe.

MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Medecins Sans Frontiere's (MSF) international campaign for greater access to essential medicines. The campaign is pushing to lower the prices of existing medicines in developing countries, to bring abandoned drugs back into production, to stimulate research and development for neglected diseases that primarily affect the poor, and to overcome other barriers to access.

Oxfam Cut the Cost Campaign
Oxfam's campaign demanding the WTO change its patent rules. Aims to cut the cost of medicines by reforming global patent and trade rules. Includes news, policy papers, briefings, etc.

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, 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

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