View previous stories
	Sexual and reproductive rights under threat worldwide by Amnesty International   The health and lives of millions of people across the globe are being threatened by government failures to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, Amnesty International said as it launched a global campaign on this issue.   “It is unbelievable that in the twenty-first century some countries are condoning child marriage and marital rape while others are outlawing abortion, sex outside marriage and same-sex sexual activity – even punishable by death,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.   “States need to take positive action – not just by getting rid of oppressive laws but also promoting and protecting sexual and reproductive rights, providing information, education, services and ending impunity for sexual violence.”   A briefing published by Amnesty International highlights the increasing repression of sexual and reproductive rights in many countries around the world that prioritise repressive policies over human rights and basic freedoms.   The briefing points to research findings and statistics that signal a perilous future for the next generation should the world continue to turn a blind eye to the repression of sexual and reproductive rights.   The My Body My Rights campaign encourages young people around the world to know and demand their right to make decisions about their health, body, sexuality and reproduction without state control, fear, coercion or discrimination. It also seeks to remind world leaders of their obligations to take positive action, including through access to health services.   Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty marked the launch by meeting women in rural communities in Nepal - where many girls are forced to marry as children and more than half a million women suffer from a debilitating condition known as uterine prolapse, or fallen womb, as a result of continuous pregnancy and hard labour.   Khumeni lives in one such community in Nepal. She was 15 when her parents decided it was time for her to get married. She has had 10 pregnancies and was banished to the family’s cowshed each time she gave birth. She had to carry heavy loads while pregnant, and sometimes only had a week to rest after giving birth. As a result of all this, she suffered a uterine prolapse - or “fallen womb” - but was left without surgical treatment for eight years.   In the course of the two-year campaign, Amnesty International will publish a series of reports on a number of countries where sexual and reproductive rights are denied.   This includes girls forced to marry their rapists in the Maghreb; women and girls denied abortion despite the threat of ill health and even death in El Salvador and other countries; and girls forced into childbirth at a young age in Burkina Faso.   In Morocco, 16-year-old Amina killed herself after being forced to marry the man who raped her. At the time, Moroccan law allowed her attacker to escape prosecution for his crime if he married her.   In Burkina Faso talking openly about sex is taboo. Contraception is not widely available and unplanned pregnancy is widespread. Hassatou was just 13 when she became pregnant. She had no idea that sex would lead to childbirth. After the baby was born, her family threw them out onto the streets.   In El Salvador abortion is illegal, even in cases of rape or when a woman or girl’s life or health is at risk, and violence against women and girls remains widespread.   In Ireland, women and girls face up to 14 years in prison for having an abortion other than when their life is at risk.   Amnesty International believes that everyone should be free to make decisions about if, when and with whom they have sex, whether or when they marry or have children and how to best protect themselves from sexual ill-health and HIV.   “With My Body My Rights, we want to help the next generation realise and claim their sexual and reproductive rights. Together we want to send a clear and unequivocal message to governments that this kind of over-reaching control violates human rights and is simply unacceptable,” said Salil Shetty.   At a Glance:   150 million girls today under the age of 18 have been sexually assaulted. 142 million girls are likely to marry as children between 2011 and 2020.   14 million adolescent girls give birth every year, mainly as a result of coerced sex and unwanted pregnancy.   215 million women cannot access contraception, even though they want to stop or delay having children. Visit the related web page
	Equality, Big Pharma and lifesaving medicine by John Butler and Brian Wahl Alertnet   4 Feb 2014   It seems everyone is talking about inequality in 2014. President Barack Obama made income inequality the focus of his State of the Union Speech last week. It also featured prominently on the agenda of the World Economic Forum, the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where political and business bigwigs discuss “the reshaping of the world”.   While many leaders were preparing their carefully crafted statements about saving the world’s poor, Marijn Dekkers, Chairman of the Board of Management of the pharmaceutical company Bayer, found himself at the centre of a media storm. A video from a panel discussion held in late 2013 called ‘Buffering the Pharma Brand: Restoring Reputation, Rebuilding Trust,’ showed Dekkers saying: “We did not develop this medicine for Indians. We developed it for Western patients who can afford it.” He was referring to Nexavar, a blockbuster cancer drug with more than US $1 billion in annual sales.   Médecins Sans Frontières and many other health advocates have criticised Dekkers for his remarks and his apparent ambivalence toward those in need around the world. What was made painfully clear by his statement, was how little has changed in the past two decades. Critics say many in the pharmaceutical industry continue to put shareholders ahead of public health.   During the 1980s and 1990s, AIDS spread across much of the world. As lifesaving drugs were developed, pharmaceutical companies restricted access to all but the wealthiest who could afford the combination of drugs that cost $10,000 to $15,000 a year in the West. In Africa, millions of people were infected with the virus and access to treatment was virtually non-existent.   The tide began to turn when generic manufacturers in India began offering the drugs at a fraction of the cost. However, access was still not a given. When South Africa attempted to provide generics to HIV-positive citizens, multinational companies stepped in to sue Nelson Mandela. The U.S. government even threatened South Africa with sanctions if it did not recognise the drug patents.   Strong civil society movements across the world stood up and demanded that generic drugs reach those who need them most. According to the World Health Organisation, 9.7 million people had access to treatment in 2012. There is still a long way to go, though -- only around one-third of those who are infected with the virus are on antiretroviral drugs.   Just as in the past, pharmaceutical companies today justify high prices by claiming that research and development costs are high. Innovation, the argument goes, will be curtailed if profit margins are diminished. However, according to an analysis published in the British Medical Journal, pharmaceutical companies spend only 1.3 percent of revenue on basic research to discover new drugs.   In essence, we do not need huge profits to develop new drug treatments. Rather, the real funders of innovation are taxpayers. More than 80 percent of funding for basic research to discover new drugs and vaccines stems from the public sector. Ensuring the right to life, as protected by article three of the United Declaration of Human Rights, means that when people cannot access life saving drugs, governments and civil society must be accountable for prioritising human life over patent laws.   In March 2012, the Indian controller general of patents did just that by authorising a local drug maker to produce generics of Nexavar because the cost of Bayer’s drug was too high for most Indians. Nexavar is given to patients to treat kidney, thyroid, and advanced liver cancers. The decision by the controller general reinforces India’s reputation as a country that puts healthcare patients first.   This is likely just the beginning. Yesterday, the World Health Organisation predicted that over the next two decades there will be a 70 percent increase in cancer cases, with the biggest burden in low- and middle-income countries. That pharmaceutical representatives continue to publicly argue that some medicines should be accessible only to Western patients, highlights the urgent need to fix a broken system.   After news of his remarks surfaced, Dekkers issued a clarification stating that his comments were a “quick response.” He said he would like “all people to share the fruits of medical progress regardless of their origins or income.”   Governments and civil society must again unite behind the simple idea that everyone has the right to health. That is, medicines must be affordable and accessible for all. With money for research and development coming largely from public sources, we must all hold pharmaceutical companies accountable and demand they serve people first.   As leaders meet to discuss inequality and how to reduce the gap between rich and poor, the development and distribution of medicines should be at the top of the agenda. Perhaps the next time the pharmaceutical industry speaks about restoring reputations and rebuilding trust, it should focus on ways for the world’s poorest to access lifesaving medicines. Visit the related web page
	View more stories