The Op-Ed: What Patent Reform In Brazil And South Africa Can Mean
In recent months, two countries with large economies and large populations both took steps to rework their patent laws, in part, to expand access to medicines. The moves come amid increasing concerns that treatments for certain ailments, such as AIDS and cancer, are out of reach for many people. Their actions also underscore growing tension with the pharmaceutical industry over pricing policies and an increasing willingness among some governments to rely on international trade agreements to consider compulsory licenses as a work-around solution. Brook Baker, a professor in the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy...
Source: Pharmalot - November 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Global Diabetes: Naked in South Africa
We continue roaming the planet to bring you accounts of living with diabetes in various countries for our Global Diabetes series. This month, we're happy to introduce a young South African who wants to become a force of diabetes advocacy in his ho... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - October 25, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
South Africa Releases Proposal To Overhaul Pharma Patents
For months, the South African government was signaling its intent to draft a new policy for governing intellectual property. Now, the draft is out and, if implemented, may allow for greater production of lower-cost generics and limit what is derisively known as evergreening, a reference to patent extensions that are based on minor changes in a drug.
The effort comes after years in which patient advocates have argued the South African government has been lax in reviewing patent applications to determine their validity, which has allowed global drugmakers to maintain high prices. In 2008, for instance, South Africa granted 2...
Source: Pharmalot - September 11, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
South Africa Urged To Overhaul Patent Laws To Boost Access To Meds
As South African governmenbt officials hold a meeting today with officials from the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization to review intellectual property protection, a pair of patient advocacy groups has issued a memo criticizing the country for failing to change its patent laws to make needed medicines more affordable.
In their memo, Doctors Without Borders and Treatment Action Campaign charge that South Africa has not amended its patent laws to incorporate or implement the 2001 WTO agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, which offers compulsory licensing as an option...
Source: Pharmalot - August 7, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Emergency Medicine Kwa-Zulu Natal Style
aka Postcards from the Edge 010
Each time we feature a ‘postcard from the edge’ from the somewhat infamous New Zealand-trained emergency physician Dr Sandy Inglis he is somewhere new — we last heard from him as a patient in Italy, now he is back in ancestral lands in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Only 2 months have past in this, the wild west of Emergency Medicine, and yet the drama, the excitement, the frustration and the chaos make it feel like we have been here for years. I am employed here as the Head of Department for Emergency Medicine, plucked from the comfort of Australasian Emergency Medicine (EM) to come to this ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 24, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Emergency Medicine Featured kwa-zulu natal postcard from the edge sandy inglis South Africa Source Type: blogs
awkward
recently i attended the association of south african surgeons congress. it's always strange and maybe fun for me to interact with surgeons. they are extremely interesting to me. i feel that i'm a bit of an outsider in the sense that i don't view myself as a typical surgeon, so i can sit back and observe, fooling myself that they are not looking at me in exactly the same way.but one thing about these congresses is that you get to see and rub shoulders with the heavyweights of the profession. it took me back many years to another congress that i attended when i was still a mere mortal registrar and truly was not yet one of t...
Source: other things amanzi - March 21, 2013 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
contested
this post will be different to any previous post on this blog. it is a complete work of fiction although it is based on a telephone conversation that did take place. all the rest is a figment of my imagination.a while ago, a friend told me about a writing contest. the brief was to write an original story of no more than six hundred words, based on a message on an answering machine. i decided to give it a go and see how i did. unfortunately, once i'd written the story and edited it down to the required number of words, when i tried to submit it, i discovered it was only for residents of the united states. so i decided to pu...
Source: other things amanzi - February 6, 2013 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever in South Africa
The following background data are abstracted from Gideon www.GideonOnline.com and the Gideon e-book series. [1,2]
Time and Place:
The first indigenous case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in South Africa was reported in 1981 – fatal infection acquired in Transvaal.
- At the time of the report, 7% of persons in the area were found to be seropositive.
- Highest incidence is reported in the Karoo, the Western Free State, the Northern Cape and North West Province.
- Most patients are farmers, farm laborers, hunters or abattoir workers.
- 101 cases were reported during 1981 to 1992; 81 during 1993 to 2010.
- 16 ...
Source: GIDEON blog - January 16, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever South Africa Source Type: blogs
"Howzit Bru?" - Living with Type 1 Diabetes in South Africa
We've been traveling the world for the past year, bringing you different perspectives on life with diabetes via our Global Diabetes Series. Today, we bring you a story from South Africa!We were delighted to bump into fellow person with diabetes (P... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - December 6, 2012 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
rambo
south africa is such an interesting place. things happen here that surely can't happen anywhere else in the world. take illegal mining in barberton for example.barberton has some of the oldest deep gold mines in the country, maybe even the world. the gold rush in barberton happened long before gold was even discovered in johannesburg. of course the massive amounts of gold in johannesburg drew all the prospectors away and left barberton as a tiny, insignificant lowveld town with ghost mines. as time went on, it once again became financially worthwhile for the mines to be opened, although really only on a much smaller level....
Source: other things amanzi - July 6, 2012 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
entrepreneur
i would like to say this is a south african story, but , truth be told, when people see the opprtunity to make money off the backs of the stupid and vulnerable, then it is pretty much a free for all (eg, eg.)at the local state hospital, as it should be, there is an hiv clinic. as the name would imply they treat the many people in our area with hiv using modern antiretroviral medication which is proven to lower the viral load and can turn a once deadly disease into a manageable one, not unlike diabetes.yet still there is a stigma associated with hiv and it gets treated unlike any other disease. you can't simply test someone...
Source: other things amanzi - June 2, 2012 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
chicken feet
i hate kalafong (hell). there are many reasons for this (here,here,here,here,here), most emotional, i confess. but if i am honest there is one incident that stands head and shoulders above the myriad of traumas that i experienced there.one of the strange idiosyncrasies of kalafong (hell) is that some time during each night shift, all the sisters of each ward get together in the duty room and eat chicken feet. i have no explanation for this. maybe there is an abundance of chicken feet in the area. maybe the sisters are paid in part with chicken feet that absolutely must be eaten before they leave for home after their shift....
Source: other things amanzi - May 29, 2012 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
twisted testicles
testicular torsion, to put it mildly, is a terrible condition. the testis twists around on its axis, cutting off its own blood supply. over and above the excruciating pain, if it is not operated within about six hours of it happening, well then you can pretty much kiss that testis goodbye. and to make things worse, it strikes young boys who have just entered puberty while they are awkward and unsure of themselves. it is seldom that they ask for help until long after it is all to late. at least that makes the operation easy... you simply cut out the necrotic testis, easy as pie. but at the operation, it is always important ...
Source: other things amanzi - March 15, 2012 Category: Surgery Authors: Bongi Source Type: blogs
SurgeXperiences 3.23
It’s an honor and pleasure to bring you this new edition of The Best Surgical Grand Rounds Carnival.
FIFA WORLD CUP – SOUTH AFRICA 2010
I would like to express my gratitude to Jeffrey Leow of Vagus Surgicalis (Australian medical student with lots of interest and knowledge of surgery) and the creator of this Great Carnival. Australia is in Group D.
Bongi, a lucky SouthAfrican general surgeon who will host the FIFA World Cup in 12 days, shares a story that will push you to learn Afrikaans. South Africa will be head of the Group A and will play with México, Uruguay and France.
rlbates, my favorite (femal...
Source: Unbounded Medicine - May 30, 2010 Category: Surgery Authors: Jon Mikel I ñarritu Tags: Grand Rounds surgeXperiences Medlinks south africa world cup Source Type: blogs
