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Global Access To University-Derived Medicines
Nicholas Stine writes, "Universities should make their patented biomedical innovations accessible to those in poor countries, according to a consensus statement signed by dozens of international global health leaders. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, a student group active at over 30 universities in North America, drafted the Philadelphia Consensus Statement urging universities to adopt licensing policies that would facilitate access to all university-derived medicines in developing countries. Notable signatories include 28 non-governmental organizations, four Nobel laureates, Justice Edwin Cameron of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal, Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health."
People who want free stuff say: "give stuff away for free"
...then I say we give away contraceptives. Lots of them. For free.
People are starving in Africa, disease is a big problem, and overpopulation is a global issue. Give them lots of contraceptives and a little sex ed, and watch as things start getting cleared up.
The other option is to just leave them alone and let half of Africa continue blasting away at itself with AK-47's, but I don't see that working all that well either. Better to not have kids than to just let them shoot one another.
Fill in your four or five-letter word of wisdom here _ _ _ _ _.
> Only about half of all medical research is privately funded, yet most new medicines end up being patented and owned by private companies. Shouldn't the people (US! the public!) who pay for the research be the ones who decide how it is used? In a democratic society, the people would actually own what they pay for and would choose to use it for the good of the worlds population. Too bad we live in a corporate oligarchy. We subsidize (or socialize if that's your bad word) the costs and risks of research, but we privatize the benefits so that only a few rich shareholders can profit while millions die of preventable diseases.
The US government is as much the lapdog of the pharmaceuticals as it is of the energy companies.
> We need a revolution.
No, we just need a citizenry that will cast civic-minded votes rather than voting for whatever politician promises them the best deal.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade