Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Avafia, Tenu; Berger, Jonathan; Hartzenberg, Trudi --- "The Ability to Utilize TRIPS Flexibilities in Sub-Saharan African Countries" [2009] ELECD 586; in Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro (eds), "Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development

Editor(s): Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446458

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: The Ability to Utilize TRIPS Flexibilities in Sub-Saharan African Countries

Author(s): Avafia, Tenu; Berger, Jonathan; Hartzenberg, Trudi

Number of pages: 32

Extract:

8. The ability to utilize TRIPS flexibilities in
sub-Saharan African countries
Tenu Avafia, Jonathan Berger and Trudi Hartzenberg1

INTRODUCTION

As of December 2006, an estimated 39.5 million people were living with HIV/AIDS glo-
bally.2 Sub-Saharan African countries remain the worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pan-
demic with 63 per cent of global HIV/AIDS cases (approximately 24.7 million people)
occurring in this region that is home to 10 per cent of the world's population (see Table
8.1).3 By the end of December 2006, only 1.04 million people were receiving antiretroviral
therapy (ART) in Africa despite the fact that 4.6 million Africans were already in need of
ART by the end of 2005.4
One of the major challenges faced by health systems is accessibility and availability of
good quality medicines in general and medicines for HIV/AIDS in particular. According
to a recent study, Africa's share of the global pharmaceutical market amounted to only
US$ 46.4 billion of sales in a global market where US$ 602 billion of sales occurred
in 2006.5 Challenges of access to ARV treatments and other essential medicines in the
African continent are multifaceted and include: (i) limited public financing; (ii) high
prices; (iii) trade laws and patents; (iv) reliance on importation of the drugs as well as raw
materials; (v) limited health-care expertise; and (vi) technological and other health-care
delivery constraints.
As public health instruments, the importance of ...