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Tag: Theme: Global Health

Announcements

IGH moves toward piloting the Health Impact Fund

At present, the development of new medicines is driven by the reward of temporary market exclusivity. When a new medicine is protected from generic competition, its profit-maximizing price inevitably prevents a large proportion of the world\’s population, including many in affluent countries, from purchasing it. As a result of this incentive system, (1) people suffer and die needlessly, and (2) research is focused on those medicines from which investors can make the most money, rather than on those that would lead to the greatest improvements in human health.
The Health Impact Fund would help to reduce all these problems.

The HIF, proposed by the non-profit organization Incentives for Global Health, would be financed by governments and offers patentees the option to forego monopoly pricing in exchange for a reward based on the health impact of their medicine. By registering a patented medicine with HIF, the firm would agree to sell it at cost. In exchange, the firm would receive, for a fixed amount of time, supplementary payments based on the products assessed health impact. Registering with the fund would be optional, and the fund would not diminish patent rights.

Currently, IGH is in talks with various pharmaceutical companies and governments regarding pilot projects that would test the HIF proposal from every angle.

Pilots will:

  • Test the ability of reimbursement based on health impact to create sufficient incentive for firms to invest in activities that increase impact.
  • Identify challenges for reliably evaluating health impact in a marketed setting in a manner that can be calibrated directly to reimbursement to the innovator.
  • Clarify the minimum for required variables to measure impact across different populations and medicines.

If you are interested in getting involved with Incentives for Global Health, contact Jake Hirsch-Allen at jakehirschallen@gmail.com.

Announcements

Global Health Impact project refines index ahead of NYU law seminar

The Global Health Impact project is happy to welcome a new batch of interns working on improving the first draft of the index that will appear in a proceedings from the Global Administrative Law seminar put on by New York University in Rome this summer!

The Global Health Impact project has conducted 40 sensitivity analyses of the model for the rating of pharmaceutical companies on the basis of their drugs\’ global health impact. The team welcomes collaboration from public health experts working on malaria, HIV/AIDS, and, especially, TB, as well as from advanced PhD students or researchers doing experimental economics to design a test to see if people will be willing to use a label on the basis of our model rating system. Finally, the team is looking to collaborate with a few computer programmers to develop a phone application to make the final version of the ratings system more widely available.

EVENTS

ASAP Canada Launch Draws 300 Participants

ASAP established its Canadian chapter with a three-day intensive workshop at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. More than 300 participants from 30 North American universities attended the event entitled: \”Beyond 2015: Towards a New Consensus on Ending Global Poverty\”. It focused on the current process for replacing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the global agreement to reduce poverty and related deprivations, which will expire in 2015. The workshop featured some of the world\’s most prominent poverty researchers, as well as representatives of leading poverty NGOs and civil servants. They were united by the concern that the new international agreement superseding the MDGs make good on the promise of ending world poverty.

\”We had a fantastic turnout and some really thoughtful, engaged dialogue with the speakers,\” said lead organizer Mitu Sengupta, an ASAP Board member and Associate Professor of Political Science at Ryerson. \”We all look forward to building on the conference momentum and developing a vibrant ASAP chapter in Canada.\”

You can view and download the full conference program and final conference report.

Day 1, Opening Remarks

In these remarks, Thomas Pogge introduces Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), explaining its motivation and goals as they relate to global poverty.

Day 1, Panel 1: Growth, Inequality, and Unemployment

This panel examines general strategies for global poverty eradication. The discussion focuses on strategies for tackling inequality, ensuring inclusive growth, and creating employment. Chaired by Roberta Rice, University of Toronto at Scarborough.

Speakers:

  • Paul Shaffer, Trent University (at 1:12)
  • Albert Berry, University of Toronto (at 13:38)
  • Solomon Benatar, University of Cape Town (at 35:13)
  • Murtaza Haider, Ryerson University (at 43:43)
  • Randy Spence, Economics and Social Development Associates (at 59:50)

Day 1, Panel 2: Reforming Governance and Institutions – Connecting the Local with the Global

The two sessions that comprise this panel examine general strategies for global poverty eradication, recognizing poverty as a global problem that requires responses not only at the national level but also at the global level.

Session 1 – Chaired by Anil Varughese, Carleton University

Speakers:

  • Joseph Wong, University of Toronto (at 00:17)
  • Richard Sandbrook, University of Toronto (at 30:25)
  • Ananya Mukherjee Reed, York University (at 51:37)
  • Discussion (at 1:14:35)
Session 2 – Chaired by Andrea Brown, Wilfred Laurier University

Speakers:

  • Pablo Idahosa, York University (at 00:00)
  • Judith Teichman, University of Toronto (at 12:35)
  • Mustafa Koc, Ryerson University (at 27:28)
  • Discussion (at 45:20)

These remarks begin a series of panels that examine general strategies for global poverty eradication. The focus of Thomas Pogge and Gilad Tanay’s remarks is on reforming global institutions and the supranational rules that perpetuate global poverty and inequality.

Speakers:

  • Thomas Pogge, Yale University (at 00:00)
  • Gilad Tanay, Yale University (at 30:58)

Day 2, Panel 1: Replacing the Millennium Development Goals

This panel examines specific strategies for influencing the MDG replacement process, emphasizing consensus building within the academic community. Chaired by Gilad Tanay, Yale University.

Speakers:

  • Varun Gauri, World Bank (at 00:00)
  • Sakiko Fukuda Parr, New School (at 19:10)
  • James Orbinski, Balsillie School of International Affairs (at 38:35)
  • Stephen Marks, Harvard University (at 1:12:35)
  • Meera Tiwari, University of East London (at 1:29:01)
  • Discussion (at 1:48:39)

Day 2, Panel 2: Curbing Illicit Financial Flows as an International Development Goal

In this panel, speakers discuss the significance of illicit financial flows as a factor contributing to the persistence of global poverty, along with possible solutions at both the global and national levels. Chaired by Melissa Williams, University of Toronto.

Speakers:

  • Raymond Baker, Global Financial Integrity (at 00:00)
  • Chris MacDonald, Ryerson University (at 17:05)
  • Ian Smillie, Diamond Development Initiative (at 30:37)
  • Thomas Tieku, Munk School of Global Affairs University of Toronto (at 50:27)
  • Discussion (at 1:03:38)

Day 3, Panel 1: Innovation and Access to Medicines

This panel examines how innovations might be stimulated through an alternative scheme under which innovators could sell their product at cost in exchange for publicly funded reward payments proportional to the product’s measured benefits.

Speakers:

  • Matthew Herder, Dalhousie University (at 00:00)
  • Stephen Marks, Harvard University, as Chair (at 11:18)
  • Tim Gilbert, Gilberts Avant Garde Lawyers (at 12:20)
  • Alex Wellington, Ryerson University (at 26:28)
  • Aidan Hollis, University of Calgary (at 42:17)
  • Ryoa Chung, University of Montreal (at 1:00:27)
  • Jocelyn Mackie, Grand Challenges Canada (at 1:15:40)
  • Discussion (at 1:31:52)

Day 3, Panel 2: Consultations with Civil Society Groups and Community Leaders

In this panel, representatives of the non—profit sector identify problems, propose solutions, and offer insight, expertise, and advice to the academics, students, aid practitioners and policymakers attending the workshop. The discussion focuses on the role of civil society and community organizations in global poverty alleviation and their thoughts about linking local issues and struggles with those that are transnational or global in focus. Chaired by Lisa Mills, Carleton University.

Speakers:

  • John Lewis, KAIROS (at 0:00)
  • Winnie Ng, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (at 16:00)
  • Sara Hildebrand, Millennium Kids (at 32:20)
  • Salimah Valiani, Ontario Nurses Association (at 43:32)
  • Ian Smillie, Diamond Development Initiative (at 59:54)
  • Discussion (at 1:18:26)

Day 3, Panel 3: Consultations with Students

Members of ASAP jump start an open group discussion by discussing the role that students can play in ASAP. Chaired by Melanie Adrian, Carleton University.

Speakers:

  • Ashok Acharya, Delhi University (at 0:00)
  • Elisabeth King, Balsillie School of International Affairs (at 16:50)
  • Matthew Lindauer, Yale University (at 27:06)
Announcements

Prof. Thomas Pogge: Global Health

Professor Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosopy and International Affairs at Yale, is a political philosopher who has published widely on Kant and in moral and political philosophy, including books on John Rawls and global justice. His book World Poverty and Human Rights is widely regarded as one of the most important works on global justice. Professor Pogge talks about a non-profit organization he leads called Incentives for Global Health and its new flagship proposal the Health Impact Fund (HIF). The HIF offers an innovative way of stimulating research and development of new medicines in order to provide them to patients — especially those in the developing world — at low prices.