Access to Medicines

It is a rare thing to be so overwhelmed by one decision.

Malawi has its fourth democratic elections today (19th of May) and election fever is in full swing. They may not be as high profile as recent elections in the South Africa and India (not to mention the United States) but they have the potential to increase access to medicines in the country and help stop these ‘stock-outs.’
 

Sandhya Venkateswaran is a member of the W8 and works for the Indian coalition ‘Wada Na Todo Adhiyan/ Don’t Break Your Promises.' It has over 3,000 members and aims to monitor the progress of the Indian government towards meeting its commitments to reduce poverty.

Last weekend, Oxfam welcomed GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) announcement to improve the company's approach to access to medicines. If these words are backed up with action then we will have taken a first step towards achieving access to medicine for all.

The work on putting public health care first has just begun

So our busy week in Washington DC is coming to an end and with our two launch events now done adrenaline has been replaced by strong coffee and sugar.

Our event yesterday at the World Bank (t-shirts replaced with suits) was quite an experience with a diverse range of speakers on the panel putting forward their ideas on what role the private sector should have in health care in poor countries.

It’s my first time driving on the right side of the road, I’m in a city I don’t know at all, and I’m lost. The things we do when campaigning for health for all.

I’m in the picturesque city of Geneva at the World Health Assembly. For the next week, Oxfam will be campaigning to make sure Ministers of Health, their policy staff, the media and the World Health Organisation remember that every day 2 billion people don’t have the medicines they need, 1400 women will die in childbirth and 4,000 children die of diarrhoea.

Some of the issues Oxfam works on aren't that simple. But as things go, access to cheap medicines is a fairly simple one - no one should have to make a choice between putting food on the table and getting treatment from illness. Unfortunately, in the poorest countries, vital drugs are often priced out of reach - effectively making clinics and hospitals useless, as people can't afford to pay for medicines.

But people are fighting back, and winning.