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Posted on Categories Featured 106 Comments on UN official lauds Uganda on local drug production

UN official lauds Uganda on local drug production

By ESTHER NAKKAZI

posted Saturday, August 25 2012 at 18:21
The Ugandan model of local commercial production of medicines presents a long-term solution of access to treatment in developing countries, a UN official has said.

In a strong critique, however, Anand Grove said locally manufactured drugs should not cost twice as much as the imported ones and suggested that WHO prequalifies QCIL so that it can supply drugs to non-government organisations like the Global Fund and the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

The Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development under the umbrella of the Uganda Coalition on Access to Medicines convened the meeting in which civil society organisations presented the current challenges on access to medicines in Uganda.

β€œThe visit of the UN Special Rappoteur offers us a rare opportunity to elevate our voices to the international level, which the government pays more attention to,” noted Moses Mulumba, director for Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development.

Civil society cautioned on the pricing, procurement, distribution, use and domestic production of medicines, as well as the unclear situation on the right to health for Ugandans.

Leonard Okello, the country director, International HIV/Aids Alliance in Uganda, emphasised the need to promote more generic manufacturers in Africa.

One of the concerns was to push the Uganda government, which only buys drugs worth Ush10 billion ($4 million) annually, to procure the locally produced medicines by Quality Chemicals, which would then drive the prices down.

Uganda’s uncertain position on the right to health was also raised, comparing it with Kenya whose new Constitution recognises health as a right.

β€œWe need to recognise it in our Constitution to make it easier for the citizens to take the government to task on the right to health care,” said Okello.

On previous visits to Uganda, Mr Grover, made recommendations to government to put in place a human rights desk at the Ministry of Health and a Right to Health Unit at Uganda Human Rights Commission to address health rights violations.

Source: http://mobile.theeastafrican.co.ke/News/UN+official+lauds+Uganda+on+local+drug+production/-/433842/1487134/-/format/xhtml/item/0/-/10xmsmdz/-/index.html

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Sisters in Death – Women in Kenya profiting from ARVs

In the video below NTV Kenya investigates a story of HIV+ women in various slums in Kenya who profit from ARVs given to them.

[youtube_video id=”xeiie4nusqA” width=”560″ height=”315″]

 

They are the people for whom free anti retroviral treatment was designed; HIV+ women do not have the money to access the medicine they need.Β  Yet for a group of HIV+ women in various informal settlements in Nairobi, the ARVs they receive do not profit their health, but they do profit from them.Β  Many unsuspecting Kenyans may be settling down to a drink that they’ve made, using the very same drugs that could save their lives. Here now is NTV’s Jane Ngoiri with a brand new NTV Investigates documentary, on women driven by poverty into a game of chance with their own lives, those of many others. These are the Sisters of Death.

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Rwanda: Registration of Intellectual Property Still Low

BY BENTA BARBENGI,

Over 1,800 Rwandan inventors have registered for intellectual property protection in the country between 2010 and 2012 since the regulation was enacted in 2008, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Registrar General, Louise Kanyonga, announced yesterday.

She was speaking at yesterday’s opening of an intellectual property workshop organised by the Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) in partnership with RDB in Kigali.

Kanyonga urged more citizens to register their innovations to have their property protected by the government.

“If you look at the trend since 2008 when we started to register (innovations), there is an increase in the number of people, but most of them register trademarks and copyrights but not the modern ones like patents, utility models, and even geographical models that we are discussing today,” she explained.

She cited lack of public awareness as one of the challenges, noting that many people believe that intellectual property is complicated and only belongs to big companies and Western nations.

“All of us are capable of coming up with an original idea,” she said. “Another challenge is changing people’s perception in order to allow us to protect them,”

She said RDB is working closely with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to develop a clear action plan to promote intellectual property in the country.

Themed “Sub-Regional Workshop on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) arising for the Use of Genetic Resources”, the workshop also aimed at sharing expertise in this field with focus on the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way taking into account all rights.

The workshop has attracted participants from Burundi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Rwanda and Sudan.

Rwanda became a signatory to the Nagoya Protocol that aims to protect genetic resources and a country’s knowledge.

Earlier, in her opening remarks, Kanyonga explained that it was necessary to regulate access to shared genetic resources and ensure a fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization.

“This workshop presents a great opportunity for us as member states to discuss issues of mutual interest within the region. No matter how much we do at the national level, whether it is research or development, it is never enough,” she stated.

“In a spirit of true cooperation, we in this region of the world must join in an action-oriented effort to solve the sometimes complex issues around the use of Genetic Resources.”

Emmanuel Sackey, ARIPO’s Senior Chief Examiner, noted that Rwanda is strategically placed in terms of resources and well placed to enforce intellectual property protection. He added that Africa as a continent has a lot of potential in the Intellectual property domain, hence the need for it to do more.

He appealed to the government to join the Banjul Protocol, which he said has few members, to deals in the registration of trademarks and service marks.

ARIPO is an African-based organisation established to pool resources from within member countries to avoid duplication of financial and human resources. It has a total of 18 member states.

Source:Β http://allafrica.com/stories/201208180363.html

Posted on Categories Featured 320 Comments on Press Release

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Mr. Anand Grover-Special Rappoteur on health meets civil society organisations over challenges on access to medicines in Uganda.Β 

Kampala, – On Tuesday, 14th August, 2012 the Special Rappoteur on Health Mr. Anand Grover will meet civil society organizations working on issues of access to medicines in Uganda.

The meeting convened by the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development under the umbrella of the Uganda Coalition on Access to medicines will discuss current challenges on access to medicines, ways to overcome them and good practices in improving access to medicines for all.

In its resolution 17/14, the Human Rights Council mandated the Special Rapporteur to prepare a study on existing challenges with regard to access to medicines in the context of the right to health, ways to overcome them and good practices. In preparation of the study, the Special Rapporteur is undertaking consultations with States Members of the United Nations, United Nations agencies and programmes, international and non-governmental organizations, and relevant stakeholders, with a view to harvesting relevant comments, insights and experiences, which will collectively inform the forthcoming report of the Special Rapporteur.

In this context, the study on access to medicines and the right to health will explore existing challenges to access to medicines in the context of the right to health, ways to overcome them and good practices to promote access to medicines that are affordable, safe, effective and of good quality. The Special Rapporteur will also consider such substantive issues as pricing, procurement, distribution, rational use and domestic production of medicines, as well as cross-cutting matters of transparency and participation.

On his previous Visit to Uganda, the Special rappoteur made recommendations to government to put in place a human rights desk at the Ministry of health and a Right to Health Unit and this was done at the Ministry of Health and Uganda Human rights Commission to address health rights violations, he also asked government to address Civil society demands in the Anti- Counterfeit Bill of 2009, this too was done among other recommendations.

β€œThe challenges of access to medicines in Uganda are numerous; they include drug stock outs, health worker shortage, poor health financing, corruption, poorly drafted intellectual property laws, poor quality and substandard medicines, stigmatizing of patients by health workers, negligence and absenteeism by health workers among others. The visit of the Special rappoteur offers us a rare opportunity to elevate our voices to the international level which the government pays more attention to. We look forward to a fruitful discussion with the rappoteur” notes Moses Mulumba, Director for CEHURD.

For details contact: Primah Kwagala, Programme Officer, Center for Health, Human RightsΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  and Development [CEHURD], info@cehurd.org Β / kwagalap@gmail.com

 

Posted on Categories Featured 73 Comments on Functional health delivery system is the right answer, not legislation

Functional health delivery system is the right answer, not legislation

I would like to respond to the story titled, β€˜Kabale considers a by-law to force pregnant women into hospital’ in the Daily Monitor of July 27. The story said the by-law will compel pregnant mothers to deliver in a health facility and penalise those who deliver under the care of a traditional birth attendants.

Experience from around the world suggests that about 15 per cent of all pregnant women will develop obstetric complications and that not all these complications can be predicted. Delivery under the care of a skilled health care provider – midwife, doctor, or nurse with midwifery skills – is the safest method for saving the lives of mothers and their newborn.

Countries with the highest skilled attended deliveries such as Sweden and Malaysia are also the nations with the lowest maternal and newborn deaths. Every year, 350,000 women worldwide die during pregnancy, or during labour, almost 1,000 a day. Of these deaths, 99 per cent occur in developing countries such as Uganda.

Every year, up to 2 million newborns die within the first 24 hours of life. Uganda looses 45,000 newborns annually; many more suffer birth trauma that impairs their development and future productivity.

In recognition of the critical role of skilled care in reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity; Uganda has committed itself to increasing skilled attended deliveries from 53 per cent to 90 per cent by 2015.

I would like to commend the local leadership in Kabale District for recognising the importance of skilled healthcare and their intentions to encourage mothers to deliver in a health facility instead of under a traditional birth attendant. However, enforcing skilled attended delivery through a by-law is not the answer.

A survey conducted by White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in six districts in Uganda (Assessment of Maternal Health Services in Six Districts in Uganda, 2010) showed that health facilities in Kabale had only 2 per cent of the required midwives and only one doctor. None of the health centre IVs could provide blood transfusion services or caesarian sections. Many facilities lacked essential supplies, transport for referral of obstetric emergencies at HC4 and 3.

I would like to request the decision makers in Kabale District to examine the current healthcare delivery system and make it attractive to the clients by providing an attractive healthcare delivery package to women. That means adequate supplies, equipment, provision of emergency obstetric at HC 3 and 4, adequate midwives. Conduct community awareness raising about the benefits of skilled attended births in addition to addressing social-cultural factors that limit a woman’s ability to access her maternity care services.

The government should play its role of ensuring adequate financial and human resources towards meeting its national and international commitments on Millennium Development Goal 5 and support local governments to deliver quality services to its citizens. Uganda committed itself to giving the health sector 15 per cent of its annual budget.

Robina Biteyi,
biteyi.robina@gmail.com

Source:Β http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/Functional+health+delivery+system+is+the+right+answer/-/806314/1470142/-/4crjqsz/-/index.html

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