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Posted on Categories Featured 64 Comments on Call for concepts for investigative articles on intellectual property and human rights

Call for concepts for investigative articles on intellectual property and human rights

The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) invites journalists
in Uganda to participate in its intellectual property and human rights capacity building
program for journalists. Journalists who are already part of this program and others
interested in joining at this stage should submit a concept for a story idea they would
wish to investigate. Story ideas should be related to the ongoing reforms in intellectual
property laws in Uganda and the East African region and their implications for public
health, education and agriculture.

Background

Uganda and the rest of East Africa (including the East African Community) are undergoing a commercial law reform process, with new laws being enacted and others at different stages of being enacted. These reforms aim to promote technological innovation and progress. However, each of these laws and draft laws, in their present form, also has a human rights dimension as far as access to educational materials, essential medicines, and food security are concerned.

The media capacity building program is part of CEHURD’s advocacy for a fair balance between the rights of holders of intellectual property rights (inventors, creators, authors, etc) and the interests of the wider society that consumes goods and services. The overall objective is to build competence in the mainstream media in Uganda to understand, appreciate and competently report issues of intellectual property and human rights.

Objective of this call 

This process will gather well-investigated and balanced stories that illustrate the opportunities and challenges Uganda and the region face in enacting intellectual property that appropriately serve the development needs of the country/region. The objective is to highlight the role the media is playing in shaping the public debate and perceptions around intellectual property reform process.

A selection of the submitted stories will be, rewarded, published and shared amongst development partners and stakeholders as good practices.

Focus of story ideas

Eligible ideas will be related to any of the following legislations/bills:
• Industrial Properties Bill (2009)
• Plant Variety Protection Bill
• Trade Secrets Bill
• Geographical Indications Bill
• Competition Bill (2004)
• Anti-Counterfeit Goods Bill (2010)
• EAC Anti- Counterfeit Bill and draft policy

Story ideas should focus on the implications of these laws and draft laws for access to medicines; access
to food and food security; and access to educational materials.

Examples of issues to consider:

  • How Uganda is progressing  in the area of legislating intellectual property nationally and at the EA C? These stories should critically look at the process and the impact of the current Laws that Uganda has and potential outcome if adopted in their current status.
  • How the current Plant Variety Protection Bill affects social welfare. How will the ordinary, smallholder farmer who has no idea what intellectual property rights are be affected by this law? Or what happens to food security in Uganda once that Bill is passed into law?
  • What difficulties does the current Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act pose for students in high institutions of learning. Journalists interested in this area should be ready to investigate the challenges students face in accessing academic materials, or how medical practitioners access health information and the problems they face accessing the same.
  • What will be the impact of EA C laws such as the EA C Anti-counterfeit Bill and policy on Ugandan as a nation?

Eligibility

This call is restricted to journalists in main stream media and particular priority will be given to those who are actively participating in the mentoring program at CEHURD.

Submission

Interested candidates should send a one-page concept, briefly stating what the proposed story is about, pending questions to be answered by the fieldwork, proposed sources of information, a work plan and modest budget.

Available support

Journalists with creative ideas will be facilitated with financial and technical support to investigate them and compile articles. CEHURD will meet expenses for travel, meals, communication, stationery and consumables, out-pocket-expenses and meet other costs directly related to the process of investigation.

CEHURD will constitute an independent panel to evaluate the final submissions. The best articles will be rewarded as follows:
• Ushs 1,000,000 for the overall winner
• Ushs 250,000 for winner in the category of print
• Ushs 250,000 for winner in the category of Audio/radio
• Ushs 250,000 for winner in the category of video/television

NOTE: The articles don’t have to be published or broadcast for them to win a prize.

Posted on Categories Featured 82 Comments on World Intellectual Property Organization Blasted for ‘Misappropriation’ of Indigenous Knowledge, Resources

World Intellectual Property Organization Blasted for ‘Misappropriation’ of Indigenous Knowledge, Resources

By Gale Courey Toensing

Dozens of Indigenous Peoples showed up at a presentation by the World Intellectual Property Organization at the 11th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues wearing t-shirts that said “World Intellectual Piracy Organization.”

The t-shirts were meant to educate Indigenous Peoples about the threats that the World Intellectual Property Organization poses to Indigenous Peoples’ genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. “It was very important to have a visual representation of what the work of WIPO actually is,” said Debra Harry (Paiute from Pyramid Lake in Nevada), who presented an intervention on behalf of more than a dozen indigenous organizations during WIPO’s presentation at the U.N. on May 10.

WIPO is a specialized body within the United Nations comprised of almost all of its nation-state members. It is “dedicated to the use of intellectual property (patents, copyright, trademarks, designs, etc.) as a means of stimulating innovation and creativity,” according to the WIPO website. WIPO services global registration systems for trademarks, industrial designs and appellations of origin, and a global filing system for patents, the site says. “Most industrialized nations have intellectual property protection systems that are centuries old. Many new and developing countries, however, are in the process of building up their patent, trademark and copyright legal frameworks and systems. With the increasing globalization of trade and rapid changes in technological innovation, WIPO plays a key role in helping these new systems to evolve through treaty negotiation, registration, enforcement, legal and technical assistance and training in various forms,” according to the website.

According to Harry and other indigenous delegates attending the UNPFII, WIPO is in the business of misappropriating indigenous knowledge, resources and aspects of traditional culture and expressions in order to commercialize and profit from them.

“There are many Indigenous Peoples’ in North America who have had a lot of their cultural traditional knowledge misappropriated. We’ve heard many stories of researchers who have come and done linguistics around Indigenous Peoples’ language and documented their oral histories and so on, and then have copyrighted that material and then the community no longer has access to that material. That’s an example of how intellectual property rights can be used to misappropriate Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge,” Harry said. Another example is the misappropriated and degradation of the Anishinaabeg’s traditional natural wild rice in Minnesota that benefits General Mills and General food.

Once the copyright protection or a patent expires, the material goes into the public domain, meaning it is available for free to anyone. “So if WIPO is successful in forcing indigenous knowledge systems into an intellectual property framework and certain aspects of our cultural heritage are usurped into that regime, it’s technically a one-way track out of our communities and out of our control and then put into the public domain. And the only reason you would do that is to commercialize it,” Harry said.

The WIPO representative at the UNPFII clearly indicated that WIPO is not interested in the protection of indigenous knowledge systems, Harry said. “In fact he said that ‘if you’re interested in protections and conservation of traditional knowledge, then WIPO is not for you.’ He actually said that. What he didn’t say conversely, then, is ‘If you’re interested in exploiting and commercializing indigenous knowledge systems, then WIPO is for you.”

Indigenous Peoples and organizations withdrew from active participation in WIPO in February. The organization meets two or three times a year in Geneva. The member states have consistently ignored the indigenous organizations’ demand over the past three or four meeting for full and equal participation in the process or to respect their rights and interests in the process, Harry said. “All our text proposals have fallen off the negotiation table and our rights to participate continue to be diminished, for instance, the amount of money available to support Indigenous Peoples to participate has continued to shrink dramatically so when it shrinks and they’re only able to support five Indigenous People from around the world to attend, that’s hardly fair representation of the worlds’ [370 million] Indigenous Peoples,” Harry said.

In her presentation at the UNPFII, Harry asked the WIPO pointblank, “[u]nder what moral and legal authority do you presume to possess a right to impose an intellectual property rights regime upon Indigenous Peoples and Nations knowledge and resources?” The WIPO representative’s answer was not recorded.

The Global Indigenous Youth Caucus (GIYC) also made a presentation during the session. “WIPO is a contemporary monopolistic manifestation of piracy that magnifies the Doctrine of Discovery and domination. We take on the responsibilities of our ancestors’ legacy at this critical moment in history [and] call for the extinguishment of WIPO’s mandate,” the representative said.

The GIYC statement echoed the call from the organizations that endorsed Harry’s intervention that includes:

Asking the Permanent Forum to request that WIPO amend its rules of procedure to insure the full and equal participation of Indigenous Peoples in all processes affecting them and that if WIPO does not change its rules it will be in violation of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Recommending that the UNPFII make it clear that WIPO has no authority to regulate Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge or to access traditional knowledge and genetic resources, which remain under the control of Indigenous Peoples.
Calling on Indigenous Peoples to stand in solidarity in opposition to the Doctrine of Discovery and withdraw from the WIPO process until it changes its rules.

Recommending that Indigenous Peoples and nations set their own legal standards for the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions.
“We have to continue to fight this whole process by any means,” Harry said. We have to call on states to let them know that Indigenous Peoples do not agree with what they’re doing and we need to see if we can get the mandate withdrawn from WIPO. These are matters that affect indigenous rights and WIPO is not an indigenous rights or human rights body. Their mandate is to promoted intellectual property rights; their income is derived from licenses. It’s purely an economic body.”

source: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/05/16/world-intellectual-property-organization-blasted-for-misappropriation-of-indigenous-knowledge-resources-113359

 

 

Posted on Categories Featured

Do We Really have Drug Shortage?

Analysis by Paul Abusharizi

Nalongo’s son had just under­gone an operation and it was long past the time he was supposed to get his final pain killer for the day. She looked on helplessly as he whimpered in pain as his father went in search of the doctor on duty.

The nurse on duty, when she came around three hours after the 6:00pm prescribed time for the young man’s doze, claimed the drugs were not in stock and that they should go outside the hospital to buy the drugs, which prescription she hastily scribbled on a piece of paper.

As it turns out the drug was very much in stock. For those in the know this was a subtle attempt by the nurse to extract some money from the parents of the in-pain boy.

All this happened at the national referral hospital — Mulago. While the end user is un­der the impression that our health centres are suffering a perennial drug shortage, National Medical Stores is sitting on tons of drugs which are reportedly in short supply.

“My warehouses are full of drugs to the point that I am asking my suppliers to hold with future deliveries as I try to work these ones out of the system,” NMS boss Moses Kamabare told Sunday Vision.

Clearly, between NMS warehouses and the end users, there is a bottle neck that is pre­venting the end users from accessing lifesaving drugs.

Three years ago in an attempt to alleviate the perennial drug shortages in public facili­ties, government centralised the procurement process under NMS.

Previously, the procurement of drugs was decentralised to the national referral hospitals ‑Mulago and Butabika, the regional referral hospitals and the districts, which supplied the health center II to IV.

By centralizing drug procurement govern­ment hoped to take advantage of the discounts possible with the ensuing economies of scale, create uniformity of supply and curb drug thefts.

Under the current system the referral hos­pitals and the districts provide NMS with a procurement plan, which guides NMS as to the drugs and their quantities to buy for the year as well as how regularly they should be dis­bursed. NMS only procures according to these plans.NMS has a delivery schedule which is monthly for Mulago and Butabika and once every two months for everybody else.

Since the capacity to quantify needs was lacking at the lower health centres the health ministry came up with a basic kit, which has most of the essential drugs and supplies like gloves, which are supplied to the health cen­tres two and three.

So NMS clients are supposed to requisition their drugs according to their pre-determined procurement plans and only then will they be supplied with the drugs.

“That is where the problem starts. We quick­ly found out that either they do not requisition, so we don’t dispatch or they requisition less than they already planned for leaving us with unused stock,” Kamabare said.

That is where the discrepancy between shortages at the health centres against the contradiction of NMS’ full warehouses begins.

By not requisitioning or under requisition­ing you have health centres without drugs for months or running out of supplies ahead if schedule respectively.

Why this happens is a mixed bag of motives that range from incomprehensible incompe­tence to sabotage of an innovation that would expose the old practitioners to individual abuse of the system to meet personal needs.

“For example some prescribers can prescribe medicines that are not on our national essen­tial medicines list. The idea being the patient would have to go out of the hospital to order the drugs living the impression that the hos­pital is short on drugs while the truth is that a perfectly adequate drug is readily available in the health facility’s dispensary,” Kamabare said.

Clearly a holistic solution to the prob­lem including increasing health workers pay and welfare and training many more health workers is required.

But as a start beyond the streamlining procurement Kamabare counsels the use of medicines only listed in the national Essential Medicines List and prescribe as stipulated in the Uganda Clinical Guide­lines – which has detailed descriptions of common ailments in the country and how they should be prescribed for.

“Artificial scarcities are being created and sustained contrary to the truth, “ the NMS boss says. “Among the drugs we are over laden with are those for cancer, TB, ARVs, family planning supplies, rabies vac­cines, insulin and mama kits.

My concern is not that my warehouses are full but what is happening to the rightful patients of these drugs …. Aren’t they dy­ing because of a failure of our systems?”

https://www.cehurd.org/2012/05/do-we-really-h…-drug-shortage

Posted on Categories Featured 2 Comments on We shall block budget if health funding is not increased – MPs

We shall block budget if health funding is not increased – MPs

By MERCY NALUGO

Next financial year’s budget framework indicates that funding to the health sector might shrink, a move MPs threaten to oppose.

MPs on the Social Services committee have asked the government to increase funding to the health sector in next year’s expenditure estimates and warned that a failure to accept their recommendation could provoke them into blocking the ministry’s budget.

According to the 2012/13 National Budget framework paper, the health ministry is expected to absorb a reduction of Shs52.7 billion from the Shs814 billion which was allocated to it this financial year with the government proposing to spend Shs761.6 billion for the next financial year.

The Minister for Health, Ms Christine Ondoa, while appearing before the committee yesterday, brought the matter to the attention of the legislators where she attributed the reduction of the budget to a decrease in the donor-funded project component.
The reduction, however, means that the sector’s allocation will account for 8 per cent of the overall national budget which is way below the 15 per cent target set in the Abuja Declaration which Uganda ratified.

“The strengthening of reproductive and mental health programme under Butabika Hospital has ended and the donor budget will therefore reduce from Shs19.5 billion to Shs5.4 billion. Also, the project of rehabilitating and equipping health facilities in the central region is coming to an end and its donor budget will reduce from Shs53.7 billion to Shs15 billion,” Ms Ondoa said.

The legislators in a meeting chaired by Dr Sam Lyomoki (Workers MP), however, indicated that the budget cut would have a significant impact on the already sick health sector.

Ngora District Woman MP Jacqueline Amongin said the committee will not pass the budget if government does not increase the funding.

“It is surprising that the government is cutting money for the Ministry of Health and yet the same government committed itself and ratified the Abuja Declaration which talks of at least 15 per cent for the ministry,” Ms Amongin said.
“We still have so many challenges of health as women are still dying either because there is no transport or the health centre is very far. It’s unbelievable that in Ngora we have no doctor in the hospitals,” she added.

Ms Sylvia Namabidde, the Mityana Woman MP, said Uganda will not meet its Millennium Development Goal targets on health if government does not prioritise the health sector given the increasing population.

Poor services
While the government has endeavoured to set up health facilities across the country, the Uganda Local Government Councils Score Card 2009/2010 report by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, shows that improvements are only in infrastructure, especially in construction of health centres.

The report said problems such as shortage of drugs, understaffing, shortage of equipment, absenteeism of health workers, and weak accountability mechanisms still exist.

The minister had also noted that despite a government proposal to recruit about 1,020 health workers, there is no money for the exercise. But the MPs said unless the issue of human resource is handled, the public health sector will continue to fail to deliver services.

Ms Angelina Osege, the Soroti Woman MP, wondered why the government had not allocated money for the treatment of tuberculosis yet it is one of the leading killer diseases in the country.

Meanwhile, government has announced a Shs33 billion enhancement for health workers’ salaries. The 21 per cent increment is expected to benefit all public health workers although they have always demanded for a 100 per cent increment.

Dr Asuman Lukwago, the acting permanent secretary in the ministry, however, said Shs214 billion would be required to effect the 100 per cent increment but they are constrained by resources.

mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com

Source: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1401578/-/ai16p8z/-/index.html

Posted on Categories Featured 1 Comment on Kenya: Court Ruling on Generic Drugs Sets Precedent for the Region

Kenya: Court Ruling on Generic Drugs Sets Precedent for the Region

BY HENRY ZAKUMUMPA, 4 MAY 2012
GUEST COLUMN

Thousands of people living with HIV and Aids in East Africa were given new hope on 25 April 2012, when a high court judge in Nairobi ruled that Kenya’s anti-counterfeit law was unconstitutional in its interpretation of generic HIV drugs as illegal counterfeits.

A generic drug is an identical copy of a branded or listed medicine – one that is usually developed and manufactured by private pharmaceutical companies. Branded drugs, such as those manufactured by Pfizer and Norvatis, are sold at prices tailored to Western markets and thus, generally, are unaffordable for the majority of patients in sub-Saharan Africa.India has developed a thriving generics industry, leading to it being dubbed “the pharmacy of the developed world” for the low cost of its generic drugs, especially antiretrovirals, some of which cost as little as a tenth of the brand price.

Indian generic drug manufacturers such as CIPLA, imitate the exact formulas used in branded antiretroviral (ARV) medicines through a process called ‘reverse engineering. The drugs are the equivalent of the branded products and as effective.

Justice Mumbi Ngugi ruled that intellectual property rights do not override the right to life and health. She found the definition of a ‘counterfeit’ in the Kenya Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008 to be too broad leading to generic HIV drugs being bundled together with other counterfeits. Justice Mumbi said this vagueness is posing a grave threat to the right to life and health for thousands of Kenyans who depend on life-saving generic ARVs.

The high court judge has now instructed the Kenyan parliament to review the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008 and to amend the offending articles. Until this point, generic HIV drugs could be subject to arbitrary seizure on the assumption that they are ‘counterfeits’, as happened at a Dutch port last year.

Under common law, a high court ruling in Kenya sets a precedent for countries such as Uganda and Tanzania, and it is now thought that human rights activists in Uganda and the rest of East Africa will invoke the ruling in any potential suits that seek to outlaw generic medicines.

The news also comes as a welcome development for Ugandan pharmaceutical companies such as the Quality Chemicals Plant in Luzira, most of whose products are generic drugs.

While testifying before a Ugandan parliamentary committee last month, Moses Mulumba, a human rights lawyer and intellectual property rights expert, revealed that the Uganda Counterfeit Bill 2010 regards generic Aids drugs as ‘counterfeits’ and would render 90 percent of HIV drugs in Uganda illegal should the bill be passed by parliament and approved by President Yoweri Museveni.

With efforts to deepen East African regional integration taking centre stage, the Kenya High Court ruling becomes even more instructive for Uganda and the rest of the members of the East African community.“

A vast majority of people in Kenya rely on quality generic drugs for their daily survival. Through this important ruling, the High Court of Kenya has upheld a fundamental element of the right to health,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “This decision will set an important precedent for ensuring access to life-saving drugs around the world.”

“The court has correctly interpreted the Constitution and guaranteed the right to health. This ruling speaks against any ambiguity that serves to undermine access to generic medicines and puts the lives of people before profit,” Patricia Asero, one of the three petitioners, was quoted as saying.

The last week of April also marked the successful passage of the East Africa HIV/Aids Prevention and Management Bill 2012 by the East African Legislative Assembly, a timely milestone as the assembly’s term of office expires this June.

Henry Zakumumpa is a Ugandan journalist and a member of the Key Correspondents Team – a network of citizen journalists reporting from some 50 countries who focus on a range of topics including health and community development.

Source:http://allafrica.com/stories/201205050203.html

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