Theme: Global Health Archives

Give to the HIF today and your gift will be doubled

2015-09-04 By ASAP Global

Dr. Theron Pummer, Lecturer in Philosophy and Co-Director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at the University of St. Andrews, is celebrating his birthday by raising money for four highly effective charities working to improve the health of people living in extreme poverty, including Incentives for Global Health (IGH). IGH is sister organization to ASAP, which supports its Health Impact Fund initiative. ASAP President Thomas Pogge has agreed to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $7,000, and at a discounted rate beyond that. The fundraiser ends at the end of September. As of September 4, Theron had already raised $4,092 towards his $7,000 goal.

This one-time matching gift challenge makes September a great time to donate to IGH. Whether or not you know Theron, you can donate today and have your gift to IGH and other high-impact charities go twice as far.

The other charities that Theron is fundraising for are the Against Malaria Foundation, theSchistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Giving What We Can.

To have your gift to IGH and other high-impact charities doubled, make your contribution by September 31.

Global Health/Global Justice Conference at Ryerson University: Toronto, May 7-8, 2015

2015-03-25 By ASAP Global

Ryerson-University-1

Global Health/Global Justice 2015:

Making New Medicines Accessible to All

Ryerson University, Toronto
May 7, 8:45am–7:00pm: RCC204, Eaton Lecture Theatre (Rogers Communication Ctr)
May 8, 8:30am–7:00pm: Cara Commons (Ted Rogers School of Management)
(Campus map of Ryerson University)
Sign up for this event here

In the last twenty years, extensive and uniform protections of intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been incorporated into the global trading system through initiatives such as the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. Under this IPR regime, the development of new medicines is driven by the reward of high prices facilitated by temporary market exclusivity. While this method of incentivizing research has produced important innovations, it has also engendered unfortunate consequences. When a new medicine is protected from generic competition, its profit-maximizing price inevitably excludes a large proportion of the world’s population, even in affluent countries such as Canada. As a result of this system of incentives, people suffer and die needlessly as the medicines they need are out of their reach, and research is focused on medicines that can be sold at high prices, rather than on those that would lead to the greatest improvements in human health.

Our two-day conference will examine the challenges presented by the IPR regime to improving health and access to medicines in both Canada and beyond. It will also explore methods of meeting these challenges through existing policy initiatives and through a new mechanism for incentivizing pharmaceutical innovation – the Health Impact Fund (HIF).

Funded by governments and other donors, the proposed HIF would support the development and delivery of new medicines through a pay-for-performance mechanism. Any pharmaceutical firm would have the option of registering a new medicine with the HIF, thereby agreeing to provide it at cost anywhere it is needed in exchange for reward payments based on the drug’s actual health impact.

The HIF proposal has inspired a massive body of research on topics as diverse as antibiotic resistance, health ethics, pay-for-performance, and global governance. This conference will provide a venue for sharing key findings from this research with stakeholders in health policy and pharmaceutical innovation, with the ultimate aim of improving policy making, industry practices and public discourse around healthcare quality and access.

More information on the HIF can be found here.

Speakers include (in alphabetical order):

Jaclyn Beca, Manager, Pharmaeconomics Research Unit, Cancer Care Ontario
Solomon Benatar, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto, and Founding Director of UCT Bioethics Centre
Alyssa Brierley, JD Osgoode Hall Law School, Doctoral Candidate, York University
Y.Y. Chen, SJD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Olivia Chow, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Ryerson University, and former Member of Canada’s Parliament and Toronto City Councillor
Jose Augusto Barreto Filho, Physician, Hospital Sao Lucas and Cardiology Assistant Professor & board Member, Federal University of Sergipe
Brent Fraser, Director, Drug Program Services Branch, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University
Yugank Goyal, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Jindal Global University, India
Paul Grootendorst, Director of the Division of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Nicole Hassoun, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University
Steven J. Hoffman, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Global Strategy Lab, University of Ottawa
Aidan Hollis, Professor of Economics, University of Calgary
Jillian Kohler, Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Trudo Lemmens, Professor and Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Chris MacDonald, Associate Professor, Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Jocelyn Mackie, Vice President Operations & General Counsel, Grand Challenges Canada
Mathura Mahendren, BHSc Candidate, McMaster University
Stephanie Nixon, Associate Professor, University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Kevin Outterson, Professor of Law, Bioethics and Human Rights, Boston University
Jane Philpott, MP Candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Markham-Stouffville and former Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital
Andrew Pinto, Staff Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale University
Mariana Prado, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Zain Rizvi, JD Candidate, Yale Law School
Mitu Sengupta, Associate Professor of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
Geeta Sodhi, Director of Swaasthya, India
Lathika Sritharan, Research Coordinator, Global Strategy Lab, University of Ottawa
Jami Taylor, Senior Director, Global Access Policy, Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Alex Wellington, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University and Director of Ryerson’s Ethics Network
Greg Zaric, Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University

Student-Led Session on Build-A-Change 2015 Competition

(Organized by Narmeen Haider, McMaster University and Incentives for Global Health)

The conference will also host a student-led session. Build-A-Change is an annual event, founded by Smart Solutions, that brings together students from all disciplines to collaborate and think critically about some of the most pressing global development challenges. This year, Smart Solutions is partnering with Incentives for Global Health (IGH). As the Health Impact Fund (HIF) rewards pharmaceutical firms based on the impact of their products, the HIF depends on the accuracy and reliability of the data used to measure health impact, particularly within developing countries. Students’ in groups of 2-4 are invited to suggest an idea/innovation that will facilitate and encourage accurate, honest, and complete reports by patients and/or health care providers on health outcomes of a specific therapy, while safeguarding patient confidentiality. The winning team, judged by industry experts, will receive a $1000 monetary prize plus mentorship on behalf of IGH. To register and submit your proposals, please visit smartatmac.org. This challenge was made possible thanks to the hard work of: Leandra Galloro (HIF: McMaster Chapter), Gynter Kotrri (Smart Solutions McMaster) and Harkanwal Randhawa (HIF: McMaster Chapter).

Canadian Book Launch of “To Save Humanity”: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future

(edited by Julio Frenk and Steven J. Hoffman and published by Oxford University Press)

The conference will also host the official Canadian launch of a new book to be published by Oxford University Press. “To Save Humanity” is a collection of 96 short, honest essays on what single issue matters most for the future of global health. Authored by the world’s leading voices from science, politics, and social advocacy, this collection is both a primer on the major issues of our time and a blueprint for post-2015 health and development. Contributors include Michelle Bachelet (President of Chile), Michael Bloomberg (former Mayor of New York City), Gro Harlem Brundtland (former PM of Norway), Margaret Chan (WHO Director-General), Bill Clinton (former US President), Paul Farmer (Co-Founder of Partners In Health), Melinda Gates (Co-Chair of Gates Foundation), Elton John (Grammy Award-winning musician), Jim Yong Kim (World Bank President), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria’s Finance Minister), Michael Porter (Harvard Business School professor), Michel Sidibé (UNAIDS Executive Director), and Larry Summers (former US Treasury Secretary). This unparalleled collection aims to provide illuminating and thought-provoking reading for anyone invested in our collective future. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the conference – which is almost a month before they will reach the shelves of Canadian bookstores on June 1, 2015.

Global Health/Global Justice 2015 Conference Agenda

Day 1: Key Issues in Global Health

Breakfast: 8:45 – 9:15 AM

Opening Remarks: 9:15 – 9:30 AM

Speaker: Mitu Sengupta (Ryerson University)

Session One: 9:30 AM — 12:00 PM

Topic: International Health Equity
Chair/Moderator: Zain Rizvi (Yale Law School)
Speakers:
Yugank Goyal (Jindal Global University)
Nicole Hassoun (Binghamton University)
Lathika Sritharan (University of Ottawa)
Alex Wellington (Ryerson University)

Lunch: 12:00 – 2:00 PM

*Student competition*

Keynote Address: 2:00 – 2:45 PM

Topic: “Making New Medicines Accessible to All – How Can We Get the Health Impact Fund Going?”
Speaker: Thomas Pogge (Yale University)

Spotlight: 2:45 – 3:15 PM

Topic: The Role of the Private Sector in Global Health

Speaker: Jami Taylor (Janssen Pharmaceuticals)

Coffee Break: 3:15 – 3:30 PM

Session Two: 3:30 – 5:00 PM

Topic: “A Conversation with Practitioners of Global Health Justice”
Chair/Moderator: Alyssa Brierley (Osgoode Hall Law School/York University)
Speakers:
Solomon Benatar (University of Toronto / University of Cape Town)
Jocelyn Mackie (Grand Challenges Canada)
Andrew Pinto (St. Michael’s Hospital & University of Toronto)
Geeta Sodhi (Swasthya, India)

Coffee Break: 5:00 – 5:30 PM

Session Three: 5:30 – 7:00 PM

Topic: “Global Health, Local Perspectives”
Chair/Moderator: Chris MacDonald (Ryerson University)
Speakers:
Olivia Chow (former NDP MP/city councilor)
Jane Philpott (Liberal MP Candidate in forthcoming federal election)

Day Two: Focus on Access to Medicines

Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:00 AM

Session Four: 9:00 — 10:30 AM

Topic: Moving Towards a Global Agreement on Antibiotic Resistance
Chair/Moderator: Trudo Lemmens (University of Toronto)
Speakers:
Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)
Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa)
Jillian Kohler (University of Toronto)
Kevin Outterson (Boston University)

Coffee Break: 10:30 – 11:00 AM

Session Five: 11:00 AM — 12:30 PM

Topic: “Universal Health Coverage”
Chair/Moderator: Stephanie Nixon (University of Toronto)
Speakers:
Y.Y. Chen (University of Toronto)
Jose Augusto Barreto Filho (Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil)
Paul Grootendorst (University of Toronto)

Lunch: 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Session Six/Book Launch: 2:00pm – 3:30 PM

Topic: “‘To Save Humanity’: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future?”
Chair/Moderator: Julio Frenk (Harvard University) and Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa)
Speakers:
Mathura Mahendren (McMaster University)
Thomas Pogge (Yale University)
Mariana Prado (University of Toronto)
Zain Rizvi (Yale Law School)

Coffee Break: 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM

Session Seven: 4:00 PM — 5:30 PM

Topic: “Pay for Performance”
Chair/Moderator: Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)
Speakers:
Jaclyn Beca (Cancer Care Ontario)
Brent Fraser (Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)
Greg Zaric (Ivey Business School, Western University)

Closing Remarks: 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Speaker: Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)

Reception: 6:15 PM

Hor d’oeuvres & Cash Bar (Cara Commons, TRSM)

Attending this conference is free. However, we ask you to please sign up for this event to help us determine numbers for refreshments and ensure we can email you in the event of any changes.

For more information, please contact Prof. Mitu Sengupta (sengupta@ryerson.ca) or
Mr. Matthew Hughsam (hughsamb@mcmaster.ca).

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, International Development Research Centre, Ted Rogers School of Management, and the Office of the Vice President of Research & Innovation at Ryerson University.

This event was co-organized by Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa), Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary), Thomas Pogge (Yale University), and Mitu Sengupta (Ryerson University).

Binghamton Professor Launches Web Tool to Track Impact of Drugs Worldwide

2015-02-09 By ASAP Global

BINGHAMTON, NY – Billions of dollars have been spent on developing drugs and supplying them around the world, but which companies’ drugs are actually making an impact? The Global Health Impact Index, headed by Binghamton University Associate Professor Nicole Hassoun, addresses this issue by ranking pharmaceutical companies based on their drugs’ impact on global health. ASAP has supported the project since 2011.

Launched on Jan. 23 at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, the Global Health Impact Index considers how companies drugs measure up on the basis of their impact on the “big three” infectious diseases: malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. While previous indexes have measured the need for different drugs worldwide, the Global Health Impact Index is the first to measure the actual impact of these drugs.

“People have focused on measuring the need for different drugs…but we’re looking at the impact that they’re actually having,” said Hassoun. “This is important for setting goals, evaluating performance — trying to have a bigger impact on global health and saving millions of lives.”

The index looks at three things: the need for several important drugs for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria; the drugs’ effectiveness; and the number of people who can access the drugs. Each company’s score is the sum of its drugs’ impacts.

According to the index, the companies whose drugs having the most impact on the “big three” diseases are:

Sanofi
Novartis
Pfizer

The following companies’ drugs had the lowest drug impact scores on the index:

Eli Lilly
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co.
Bayer Healthcare

“We are looking at the outcomes of the drugs that the companies hold, so the actual impact on death and disability,” said Hassoun. “We’re looking at the amount of death and disability that the company’s drugs are alleviating.”

Hassoun hopes to motivate pharmaceutical companies to meet the health needs of impoverished people around the world.

According to Hassoun and ASAP, one third of all deaths globally, about 18 million per year, are linked to poverty, because people living in poverty cannot afford medicines and pharmaceutical companies do not have the financial incentive to develop treatments for diseases that primarily affect impoverished people.

By better understanding the impacts of companies’ products on the burden of disease, said Hassoun, researchers can have a tool for measuring impact; governments, donors, etc. can better target their efforts; and companies can be incentivized to focus on impact.

Visit the Global Health Impact Index website or contact Nicole Hassoun for more information.

Internship Opportunities with Incentives for Global Health and ASAP UK

2013-11-22 By ASAP Global

Interesting intern positions are available at Incentives for Global Health and ASAP UK. Details on available posts is provided below.

Incentives for Global Health (IGH)’s mission is to increase access to essential medicines through our flagship proposal, the Health Impact Fund (HIF). Millions of people suffer and die each year from neglected diseases because pharmaceutical companies sell their patented drugs at hugely marked-up prices. These companies are incentivized by the international intellectual property system to develop drugs for ailments that affect primarily affluent people who can afford these exorbitant drugs. The Health Impact Fund creates an alternative incentive structure for pharmaceutical companies. When a company registers a new drug with the Health Impact Fund, they agree to sell that drug at production cost (which is typically extremely low) all over the world. Innovators are then awarded a percentage of the fund based on the HIF’s assessment of the actual global health impact of the drug.

As an intern you will play an essential role in the organization of IGH’s activities including drafting proposals, organizing pilots and coordinating weekly calls. You will work with IGH’s impressive management board which includes Thomas Pogge, philosophy professor at Yale and Aidan Hollis, economics professor at the University of Calgary in addition to some of the world’s foremost medical, pharmaceutical and health policy experts. Our advisory board includes former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, former MSF President James Orbinski and several Nobel laureates in addition to over a dozen other global health and economics luminaries.

This is a part time position and you will not need to come into the office. Correspondence will be done by email and Skype calls. This is an incredible opportunity with a great organization. We look forward to your application, which should include a CV and cover email. Please submit your application by December 1st at 5pm. If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with Narmeen Haider, Manager at IGH, at narmeen.haider@learnlink.mcmaster.ca.

ASAP UK is seeking an intern to develop its social media presence. This is an exciting opportunity for people interested in the relationship between communications, learning, and advocacy to learn online marketing skills. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and work begins January 1, 2014.

Key Responsibilities

Producing 1-2 high quality tweets per day
Producing 1-2 high quality Facebook posts per day
Working with ASAP UK to develop a social media strategy

Desired Qualifications and Skills

Excellent writing skills
Prior experience with journalism or marketing
Basic knowledge of academic literature on poverty and development

Learning Outcomes

Improved ability to present academic research to diverse audiences
Greater understanding of social media marketing strategy
Familiarity with key texts in poverty and development literature

Work Sample Required for Application

Applicants should submit a writing sample of 3-5 pages. Excerpts of longer pieces of writing are acceptable. The ideal writing sample would be written in a journalistic, rather than academic, style.

Start date: January 1, 2014

End date: May 1, with the possibility of extension

For additional information, contact Stephanie Eldridge at s-eldridge@hotmail.com.

Nicole Hassoun: Harnessing Consumer Choice to Drive Global Health Impact

2013-11-20 By ASAP Global

In this latest ASAP Impact Story, ASAP Project Manager Rachel Payne profiles early-stage efforts by Binghamton University’s Hassoun to put public pressure on pharmaceutical firms to do more for people living in poverty. Details on ASAP’s Impact: Global Poverty project can be found here. The project shares insights on successful strategies and challenges faced by academics seeking to leverage their expertise into direct positive impact on poverty alleviation policy and practice. Nominations for profiles are welcome: please contact Luis Cabrera at a.l.cabrera@bham.ac.uk

Nicole Hassoun, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Binghamton, is leading an ASAP-supported initiative to harness the power of socially conscious consumers to motivate pharmaceutical companies to meet the health needs of people in poverty. She has recently created an index that ranks drug companies according to their positive impact on global health. By informing consumers of which companies are making a difference and which are not, she hopes to stimulate demand for products linked to global health impact.

Hassoun’s Global Health Impact index ranks pharmaceutical companies by estimating the collective health impact of their malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS drugs and comparing it with that of other companies. In Hassoun’s model, a drug’s health impact is equal to need * access * efficacy — that is, the global amount of death and disability resulting from the disease the drug treats (need), the proportion of people who receive the drug out of those who need it (access), and the estimated effectiveness of the drug (efficacy).

The index is constructed so that companies have an incentive to invest in the development of medicines for neglected diseases and ensure that there is widespread access to and proper use of their products. Those companies with the best ranking would be entitled to display a Global Health Impact label, which would appear on all of their products—“everything from vitamins to cold medicine,” in Hassoun’s words. Like the Fair Trade label, the Global Health Impact label is intended to draw consumers towards more socially responsible companies.

Globally, one third of all deaths—18 million a year—are linked to poverty. People living in poverty often lack access to medicines both because they cannot afford them and because pharmaceutical companies lack adequate financial incentives to develop treatments for diseases that primarily affect poor people. Hassoun hopes that the Global Health Impact label will create a serious financial incentive for companies to make their products available to people in poverty and to invest in the development of new treatments for neglected diseases. She writes that if products with the Global Health Impact label capture just one percent of the market for generic and over-the-counter medicines, then there will be a $360 million incentive for companies to achieve Global Health Impact certification.

There are a number of other proposals for how to improve access to medicine for poor people, including grants to pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments for neglected diseases, funding to deliver medicines to poor people at reduced prizes, and Thomas Pogge’s Health Impact Fund. The proposal that comes closest to Hassoun’s is the Access to Medicines Index, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of the UK and Netherlands, which ranks pharmaceutical companies on the basis of their efforts to improve access to medicines. This index takes into account a variety of activities carried out by pharmaceutical companies, including research and development, lobbying, patents and licensing, pricing, donations, public policy and market influence, and capacity building for product distribution.

Hassoun says that she is encouraged by the success of the Access to Medicines Index and adds that her own model has distinctive benefits. She argues that by focusing on the actual impact of pharmaceutical companies’ key innovations on the global burden of disease, using the best data available, her index gives a rigorous assessment of the extent to which companies’ drugs are improving the health of poor people.

Possible next steps for Hassoun’s project include a sensitivity analysis of the index and a pilot of the Global Health Impact label in grocery stores. In the pilot, Hassoun would measure the effect of the label on sales.

Hassoun put forward the idea of the Global Health Impact index in her 2012 paper, “Global Health Impact: A Basis for Labeling and Licensing Campaigns?”, which appeared in the journal Developing World Bioethics. In an article for the Council on Foreign Relations, Hassoun described the Global Health Impact project as presenting a middle path between condemnation of globalization on account of new global rules and institutions that, like the TRIPS Agreement, perpetuate poverty, and uncritical acceptance of globalized trade. Hassoun writes: “there are many coercive international institutions, like the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, that should be doing much more to help people avoid severe poverty, which requires changing many international policies. But there is also a role for individual consumers and companies to play in improving people’s lives.”

Hassoun says that she was motivated to take on the project of ranking pharmaceutical companies because believes philosophers are in a position to contribute to the debate on measuring health impact, by virtue of their training in logic and critical analysis. When she first came up with the idea for the index, she imagined that someone else would carry out the project and presented the proposal to graduate students studying health policy, hoping that one of them would take it on. However, she says she quickly discovered that these students tended to have their own ideas for improving health access and that if she was to see the project executed in the way she wanted, then she would have to do it herself.

Asked about the challenges of carrying out an impact-focused project as an academic, she said that she had been surprised by how much work it has taken to realize her plan for the index. Nevertheless, she says she hopes more students and young academics will attempt to put the ideas they write about into practice. Asked to give a piece of advice for people at the beginning of their academic careers, she suggested asking a lot of questions. Unless you make a point of learning from people working in the field that interests you, she warned, it’s easy to wind up far from the work that you had hoped to do.