Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has filed a ‘patent opposition’ in India to block US pharmaceutical company Pfizer from patenting its pneumonia vaccine, PCV13.
MSF believes the company’s priority focuses on trying to guarantee market monopoly rather than providing life-saving vaccine to the most vulnerable.
This is the first time granting a patent in India has been challenged by a medical organisation. If MSF wins, it opens the way for affordable versions of the vaccine to be made available to developing countries and humanitarian organisations.
For the full article from MSF, CLICK HERE for the following link.
World TB Day is observed each year to raise awareness about Tuberculosis. TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV. The disease is preventable and although some progress has been made, TB remains a destructive epidemic in much of the world. This is the case even though it can be treated for as little as $20 per person. World TB Day is an opportunity to educate ourselves and others about the disease and to work together to end TB.
Results Canada (a GRAN ally) works to increase Canadian funding and support for TB eradication. To recognize World TB Day, go to the RESULTS website and learn a little more about this disease that too often goes hand in hand with HIV/AIDS. Visit them at http://www.results-resultats.ca/en/campaign/tuberculosis/
World TB Day is observed each year to raise awareness about Tuberculosis. TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV. The disease is preventable and although some progress has been made, TB remains a destructive epidemic in much of the world. This is the case even though it can be treated for as little as $20 a day. World TB Day is an opportunity to educate ourselves and others about the disease and to work together to end TB.
Results Canada (a GRAN ally) works to increase Canadian funding and support for TB eradication. To recognize World TB Day, go to the RESULTS website and learn a little more about this disease that too often goes hand in hand with HIV/AIDS. Visit them at http://www.results-resultats.ca/en/campaign/tuberculosis/
Investing in education for all is critical to ending chronic poverty. Education has a profound effect on development goals such as improved health, stronger economies, peace and social cohesion. But investing in education with a focus on girls has especially significant results:
- Investing in girls’ education could boost subSaharan Africa’s agricultural output by as much as 25%
- In subSaharan Africa, there would be 14% fewer child marriages with primary education and 64% fewer child marriages with a secondary education.
- If all girls completed primary education, there would be 66% fewer maternal deaths saving more than 189,000 lives each year
- A child whose mother completes secondary education is 50% more likely to live past the age of five
- Educated mothers are more likely to ensure that their children are vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, pneumonia, malaria and other diseases
But why is it so difficult for girls to keep up in school, to stay in school or to attend school at all? There are so many barriers girls need to overcome to access quality education. Click on the link below to find out more….http://www.one.org/international/blog/10-legitimate-reasons-for-girls-not-to-do-their-school-work/
Canada has joined in a new UNICEF and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) initiative to end child marriage, one of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. Read about this initiative....
International Women’s Day is an ideal day for GRANs to renew our commitment to the older women of Sub-Saharan Africa. On Tuesday, March 8, people around the globe will celebrate women’s achievements as well as highlight ongoing struggles and challenges in achieving gender equality. Last year, Help Age International called upon members of the United Nations to ensure that actions on women’s empowerment in areas such as poverty, health, education, and violence also address the specific needs of older women. Read the full article here
The TPP agreement has been signed. What happens next? Should we shrug our shoulders and give up? Absolutely not. Ratification is down the road – possibly 2 years away.
There continues to be loud opposition. Business leaders including Jim Balsillie, co-founder of Blackberry, have been highly critical of the Intellectual Property Provisions while many organizations warn of the serious impacts on access to affordable life-saving medicines.
http://canadians.org/blog/trudeau-disagrees-canadians-expressing-concern...
Preliminary findings from analyses of existing data:
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank are researching the economic consequences of child marriage, with a view to using the resulting evidence to strengthen the case for ending this harmful practice.
The joint ICRW-World Bank study of the economic impacts of child marriage is still underway, but preliminary analyses suggest quite strongly that, in addition to harmful effects on girls’ health, education, rights and wellbeing, the economic impacts of child marriage, from the individual to the national levels, are very large. In addition, most of the benefits from ending child marriage would accrue to the poor, who are almost always the most likely to have higher rates of child marriage. Ending child marriage would help greatly to eradicate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.
Much more research will be undertaken in the coming months, but given what we already know, global leaders —particularly finance ministries and donors— should invest in ending child marriage as not only the right thing to do, but also a strategic investment in current and future economic and human development.
- See more at: www.CostsofChildMarriage.org
Despite all the political rhetoric about the economic benefits of trade agreements, there are compelling reasons to urge participating governments to step back and reassess the TPP. Click the link below to read a recent article from Joseph Stiglitz, published in The Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/10/in-2016-better-trade-agreements-trans-pacific-partnership
This new year marks the official launch of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by world leaders last September in New York, this new agenda calls on countries to begin efforts to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years. This global “to-do” list aims to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all, creating a more just world where no one is left behind.
Canada has made a commitment to these global goals. In his ministerial mandate letter to Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and la Francophonie, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that a top priority will be to "refocus Canada’s development assistance on helping the poorest and most vulnerable, and supporting fragile states." He specifies that this will include "supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....”
Many of GRAN’s issues are addressed in the new SDGs, including health, education, gender equality and peace. We are finding that all of the goals are interrelated. When progress is made on one goal, there is a positive impact on other goals.
The more that people know about the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, the more effective the world will be at achieving them. Your help is needed to share the goals. Become more informed by following discussions and blogs, have conversations with family and friends, write Letters to the Editor and to your Member of Parliament, and share your knowledge and concerns on social media. If the goals are important to us, we will let our leaders know, and our leaders will work to make them happen.
Change will not happen without action and pressure from civil society and ordinary people everywhere. We need to hold our government accountable to the commitments made in New York in September. Let’s hope that 2016 is the year we all become involved and begin to create a more just and sustainable world.
Is the world ready to move from policy to action? What will Canada’s role be? What will your role be?
To find out more about the Global Goals go to: http://www.globalgoals.org
To see how education influences all of the Development Goals, have a look at the Global Partnership for Education’s most popular blog in 2015:
http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/17-ways-education-influences-new-17-global-goals
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