“When people are dying by the thousands every day, unnecessarily, when we’ve had this horrendous pandemic unfold for two decades while the world stands by and watches- you’ll do anything in your power to move the process.”
-Stephen Lewis
Médecins Sans Frontières has declared that one-third of the world’s population lacks access to essential medicines. In the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, this figure rises to one-half. Currently, more than 40 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS, five million of whom are in dire need of treatment, yet 3.7 million, living mostly in the developing world, have yet to receive any treatment at all.
As students, and as future health-care professionals, lawyers, teachers, and ultimately, citizens of the world, we share a collective responsibility to ensure that we do not idly watch and wait as millions perish at the hands of a pandemic that can be treated with essential medicines.
Universities are in a position to make a difference. U of T is the leading research institution in Canada, with scientific researchers committed to public service who contribute greatly to drug development. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines is an international student organization that works with students and faculty across North America and Europe. They strive towards two main goals:
To determine how universities can help ensure that biomedical products, such as anti-AIDS drugs, are made more accessible in poor countries.
To increase the amount of research conducted on neglected diseases, or those diseases predominantly affecting people who are too poor to constitute an attractive market to private-sector R&D investment.
We believe, as stated in UAEM’s Philadelphia Consensus Statement on university policies for health-related innovations, that “universities have an opportunity and responsibility to take part in these solutions. University scientists are major contributors in the drug development pipeline. At the same time, universities are committed to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the public interest. Global public health is a vital component of the public interest. Therefore, universities best realize their objectives when they promote both innovation and access to health-related technologies.”
Students Against Global AIDS is a national Canadian student organization committed to the worldwide realization of the right to health. On Monday, April 9, U of T students had the opportunity to learn more about the important issues surrounding access to medicines and the universities’ unique role and responsibilities in helping provide affordable medicines to the developing world.
In alliance with UAEM, SAGA promoted the UAEM National Day of Action, an opportunity for students’ collective voices to be heard and to raise awareness about the issue of universal access to medicines. With the involvement of the efforts of students from the various faculties across campus, it is hoped that this program will negotiate changes at the university, and perhaps national level. It will be up to us, as Canadian university students, to get involved, take a stand, and make our voices heard.
Stacy Yeh and Elayna Fremes are co-chairs of the Canadian Universities’ Access to Essential Medicine Campaign at U of T. For more information check out http://saga.sa.utoronto.ca or www.essentialmedicine.org
