Global Health Policy

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Tuesday, entitled “Drug Firms See Poorer Nations as Sales Cure,” that raises important issues about international on-patent drug pricing and the sustainability of drug access in poor market segments of developing countries.

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have been implemented in many Latin American countries as strategies to reduce poverty and increase human capital. Rigorous impact evaluations often accompanying these interventions demonstrate their important potential to improve social welfare among poor families.

The current issues of both Nature and BMJ (subscriptions required) draw attention to the role of research universities in improving access to medicines in developing countries, emphasizing the work of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a student organization with chapters at 35 universities in North America.

At the last World Health Assembly in May 2006, the WHO member states passed a resolution establishing an intergovernmental working group to "develop a global strategy and plan of action including to provide a framework to enhance research and development into diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries," which will meet for the first time December 4-8 under the leadership of Dr.