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Posted on Categories General News, News 109 Comments on Copyright law and education materials: can the two get along?

Copyright law and education materials: can the two get along?

By Henry Zakumumpa

7th/11/2011

Thousands of school children in rural Uganda are already disadvantaged. Many schools are without libraries and those with libraries have stocks that are outdated with a few over-used and mutilated copies.

It is not uncommon to find there are only a few copies of current text books shared among hundreds of pupils. The cost of one new primary school text book is often the equivalent of a one-month salary for a primary school teacher in Uganda.

Take the case of a remote primary school in Butahe village in Mbarara District, a government-aided school located in south western Uganda; about 400 kilometers from the capital Kampala .There are only two mathematics text books for the 500-plus school population.

Many pupils and teachers use photocopying to get around the hurdle of scarcity of school text books, a practise which is even widespread in Uganda’s burgeoning universities. But that too is no longer an option –at least, a legal option. Photocopying a text book could actually land you in jail.

Under the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act 2006 it is a criminal offence to photocopy copyrighted material such as school text books. These are mainly published by multinational publishers such as Longman and Macmillan, although local publishers such as Fountain Publishers and MK Publishers are increasing their market share in Uganda, especially for school text books.

β€œUgandans don’t have a culture of buying books. Even among those who can afford. For example, a locally-published book costs only 18,000 shs (U$ 7) but students will still want to photocopy. We need to change mindsets,’’ says Dr Ronald Kakungulu who is conducting research commissioned by human rights NGO, the Center for Health and Human Rights Development (CEHURD) on the impact Uganda’s copyright law is having on the right of access to educational materials.

However, the copyright law permits some limited form of photocopying for educational purposes under a vague provision known as β€˜fair use’, which permits photocopying only portions of a text book. Also, the β€˜flexibilities’ in the copyright law allows the education minister to grant a license for vital education materials to circumvent the rigidities of copyright law.

For many years Ugandan schools and students have been buying Indian-printed versions of Western text books, which are much cheaper. When I was a secondary student of English literature, about 15-years-ago, we could scarcely afford brand-new copies of set texts such as Macbeth and A Man For All Seasons and got by through purchasing cheaper Indian-printed versions. Yet this option is not legally available to current secondary students in Uganda.

This practice of buying cheaper copies of copyrighted books is called β€˜parallel importation’. This was legally permitted before the coming into force of the new Ugandan copyright law but is now outlawed.

But the desperate shortage of school text books in the average Ugandan primary school such as the one in Butahe, Mbarara district is as a result of a myriad of factors, which range from intellectual property rights issues to centralized educational material procurement delays.

β€˜β€™School curriculums are unstable and keep changing all the time, which makes it expensive for book publishers in Uganda since they have to make new publications too regularly, β€˜β€™ says Peter Kibuuka, a representative of Pearson Longman.

β€œTo be fair, looking exclusively at right of access to educational materials in isolation of the necessary balancing act of protecting publishers who make enormous investments in publishing books would be unsustainable,” counsels Charles Batambuze, executive secretary of the Uganda National Book Trust.

At a workshop organized by the CEHURD in collaboration with Uganda National Book Trust at Hotel Africana in Kampala last Thursday (3 November 2011), stakeholders met to discuss the relationship between Ugandan copyright law and the right to access educational materials. The discussion was chaired by Moses Mulumba, the executive director of CEHURD, who informed workshop participants that low- income countries need not despair and can exercise β€˜flexibilities’ under international trade law, which allows for countries to access copyrighted educational materials under a grace period granted until July 2013.

β€˜β€™Even reforming our copy right law in Uganda alone is not going to be enough because of East African regional integration efforts. Laws made at the East African level supersede Ugandan laws,’’ said Moses Mulumba.

On efforts to broaden access to education materials, Professor Ikoja Odongo, who attended the CEHURD workshop, said β€˜β€˜we need to take action and not just keep on talking and talking about access to educational materials”.

Professor Ogongo’s call needs to be heeded if school children in remote Ugandan primary schools are to freely access school text books and get an education – a right guaranteed under the 1995 Uganda constitution.

Source: KC team

http://www.keycorrespondents.org/2011/11/07/copy-right-law-and-education-materials-can-the-two-get-along/

Posted on Categories News 200 Comments on Blueprint for making medicines more affordable for everyone

Blueprint for making medicines more affordable for everyone

By Philip Soos

26 September 2011

The magnitude and severity of preventable and treatable NCDs – diabetes, stroke, cancer and heart disease – has brought the affordability of medicines to the forefront of global public health.

Β For more than a decade, a worldwide campaign has been agitating for more timely and affordable access to medicines for the world’s poor. This is because hundreds of millions of people around the world don’t have access to the medicines they require to combat and alleviate suffering from a plethora of NCDs.

Β Patently obvious

One of the direct causes of the lack of affordability of pharmaceuticals is the patents system.

Β Patents are a monopoly granted by the government ostensibly to promote greater levels of research and development (R&D) than would exist without some form of intervention. But the problem is that monopolistic pricing makes medicines less affordable to individuals.

Β While traditional forms of protectionism such as tariffs result in markups of 20% to 30%, patents can increase medicine prices by a thousand or even ten thousand percent above market competitive prices. And monopolistic pricing is not the only hurdle to making medicines more affordable and accessible.

Β It is compounded by perverse incentives for pharmaceutical companies to spend R&D on creating largely non-innovative medicines for high-income markets. Add to this, the temptation for pharmaceutical companies to withhold clinical research that indicates negative side-effects of some drugs.

Β Merck knew before Vioxx was released on the market, for instance, that it substantially increased the incidence of heart attack and stroke, resulting in tens of thousands of preventable deaths in the United States.

Β It’s pointless to advocate policies that result in cheaper medicines if they are defective so consumers are harmed rather than treated. But under the patent system, firms are faced with such perverse incentives that are clearly not aligned with the common good.

Β All over the world

It’s wrong to assume that patents are the sole cause for lack of medicines’ affordability.

Β The lack of a well-functioning public health-care systems and medicine subsidy schemes; sales taxes; poverty; government corruption; and the high cost of on-going medical treatment are also reasons why many individuals and entire populations lack timely and affordable access to pharmaceuticals.

Β One of the oddities of the access to medicines campaign is that many assume only developing nations are in need of help. In fact, the affordability crisis also strikes closer to home in many of the wealthier Western nations.

Β The United States, for instance, lacks a comprehensive national subsidy scheme and there’s an expectation that private insurers provide coverage alongside Medicare and Medicaid. Despite this, many millions of Americans can’t afford to purchase medicines, which are often sold at grossly inflated prices.

Β Australia has one of the best medicine subsidy schemes in the world: the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). But the PBS cannot subsidize every medicine on the market for the simple reason of containing costs.

Β The PBS will soon cost $10 billion and is expected to continue to grow. And even now there are instances of Australians who cannot afford unsubsidised medicines and are placed at an economic (and health) disadvantage.

Β True cost

The US pharmaceutical market recently reached US$300 billion in size. It would actually only be worth approximately US$30 billion at competitive market prices.

Β If medicines were priced at the cost of production under an alternative R&D system, not only would they become more afford but the budgets of government subsidy programs and charities would be able to provide greater coverage and treatment to those who need it. It’s critical for activists driving the access to medicines campaign to examine the assumptions and justifications that uphold the pharmaceutical patents system.

Β They shouldn’t accept what the industry and the economics profession say in support of an R&D system that’s grossly inefficient in both economic and social terms. There are much better systems to promote research and development.

Β And there’s no plausible rationale for relying on 15th century government monopolies to finance R&D – a creation from the time of the feudal guild system. Overturning pharmaceutical patents, rather than fiddling around the margins, should comprise a core focus of the access to medicines campaign.

Β This will help bring our scientific and innovation research structures into the 21st century, and most importantly, improve the affordability of medicines at a time when the world is facing an epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

Β Β Source: The Conversation

Β http://theconversation.edu.au/blueprint-for-making-medicines-more-affordable-for-everyone-3503

Posted on Categories News 88 Comments on Uganda sued over maternal deaths

Uganda sued over maternal deaths

Activists file lawsuit in court regarding cases of women who died while giving birth unattended in hospitals. A coalition of activists has taken the Ugandan government to court in a landmark lawsuit regarding the cases of two women who bled to death unattended while giving birth in hospitals.

The activists argued that the women’s rights to life and to maternal healthcare have been violated. They also said that the negligence of the authorities causes thousands of women to die in childbirth every year.

Source: Al-Jazeera English

http://aje.me/qAHVLl

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