Plenaries
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An effective health care system is a fundamental aspect of a prosperous country. A country’s ability to develop socially, politically or economically is hindered if it cannot maintain the health of its citizens. Consequently, the lack of globalization of healthcare and pharmaceutical drugs has a significant impact on developing countries. It is estimated that although 95% of HIV/AIDS infections are in developing nations, 90 percent of the HIV/ AIDS drugs are consumed by those in the developed world. This statistic highlights the major discrepancy between the existence of these life saving drugs, and the failure to appropriately globalize them. A lot of controversy has been raised over this issue, as large drug companies are reluctant to market AIDS drugs to poorer countries because these countries have a lower purchasing power. However, Apotex Inc., Canada's largest generic pharmaceutical company, was awarded a tender from the Rwandan Government for the life saving triple combination AIDS drug "Apo Triavir". Apotex is the first company to provide this medicine to Africa under the provisions of the Canadian Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR). Dr. Jeremy Desai, Vice President of Research and Development at Apotex, will be one of the speakers addressing this issue. This vital responsibility of developed nations to aid developing nations will also be addressed by co-author of the book Fatal Indifference: The G8, Africa, and Global Health, Mr. Ted Schrecker, Associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, and principal scientist at the University’s Institute of Population Health.
