Better access to medicine

Better access to medicine

For most people in the world there is insufficient provision of medical care. Also the access to medicine does not correspond to their needs. Whereas four persons out of five of the world population are living in developing countries, their share in the pharmaceutical market is just a fifth of it. This disproportion becomes very evident in two examples: AIDS drugs and neglected diseases.

HIV/AIDS: Unaffordable disease

Approximately 50 million people worldwide are HIV-positive. The most affected region is sub-saharan Africa where 30 million people have been infected. The social and economic consequences of this epidemic are devastating.
The fight against AIDS has two main pillars of equal importance: Prevention and therapy. But still today therapy is unaffordable for most people. Protests from the people concerned as well as enormous public pressure have forced the drug manufacturers to lower the excessive prices for life-saving drugs. In this context, the public debate on patent protection for drugs is decisive. First successes are the allocation of voluntary licences to African manufacturers as well as the recognition of the Indian production of generic equivalents. BUKO Pharma-Kampagne actively participates in this discussion and does everything possible to put the human right of health on top of the commercial interests.

Neglected diseases

Malaria, tuberculosis, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis have something in common: they have been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry over decades. Although these diseases are responsible for 12 % of the deaths in Africa almost no rational therapies exist. It may be true that over the last 25 years 1400 new drugs have been developed but only 16 of them refer to these diseases. Neglected diseases are tropical infectious diseases, typical of the Third World countries. But diseases of the poor are not a worthwhile market and therefore they are not interesting for the pharmaceutical industry.
BUKO Pharma-Kampagne makes this disgrace known in Germany. It speaks in favour of a new research policy that is not ruled by economic interests but by human needs. The development of drugs must be perceived as a public responsibility. This is why BUKO Pharma-Kampagne is collaborating and working on the “drugs as common good” plan. The project "Essential Innovation" by Health Action International is an international network working on this theme.

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