Patents, diseases and access to health - Dr Emilie Cloatre

Genomics Forum seminar - 27 October 2011
http://bit.ly/sPOwTf

Patents, diseases and access to health: exploring global/local networks of intellectual property law in African public health

Dr Emilie Cloatre - Lecturer in Law, University of Kent
http://www.kent.ac.uk/law/people/staff/academic/Cloatre,_Emilie.html

Abstract:
The relationship between intellectual property and access to health in developing countries has been at the centre of intense controversies since the mid-1990s, and the adoption of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement.

In this paper I discuss the role and influence that pharmaceutical patents and global intellectual property rules have on access to medication in sub-Saharan Africa. I argue that these need to be explored through questioning the direct and indirect ways in which patents have participated in reshaping diseases, health priorities, treatment and access to health in ways that are sometimes overlooked -- and hence require the development of new conceptual tools. I base my argument on empirical work carried out in Ghana and Djibouti, unpacking some of the ways in which the global/local networks of intellectual property are expressed in both countries. In so doing, I show how patents circulate in a variety of ways, sometimes unexpected and often discreet, from international forums to local practices, through discourses and materials. I question how their multi-layered deployment influences which medicines reach local networks and, ultimately, patients.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Emilie
• Cloatre
• Public Health
• health
• medicine
• africa
• law