PHM-Exch> B-HRD Project Launches Special Feature on “Big Pharma” and Access to HIV/AIDS Drugs

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: ESCR-Net <Escr-net at escr-net.org>


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*B-HRD Project Launches Special Feature on “Big Pharma” and Access to
HIV/AIDS Drugs *

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Access to essential medicines is critical to the realization of the human
right to adequate health. Yet all too often, the high cost of medicines
effectively deprives individuals of this fundamental right. As
multinational pharmaceutical companies (“Big Pharma”) pursue aggressive
strategies to protect patents for key drugs, access to essential medicines
is frustrated and concerns regarding the rising cost of life-saving drugs
intensify. The situation is particularly acute for those living with
HIV/AIDS in the Global South, whose lives depend on access to affordable
antiretroviral (ARV) medicines.

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A new “In Focus” feature <http://bhrd.org/fe/infocus.php?page=39> launched
by the Business and Human Rights Documentation (B-HRD <http://www.bhrd.org/>)
Project details the tactics pursued by “Big Pharma” to protect patents for
key drugs in India and Brazil, increasing costs of life-saving drugs and
frustrating access to essential medicines. .  The feature showcases the
strategies of human rights defenders to challenge abusive business
practices and counterbalance patent safeguards with strong human rights
protections. ****

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Learn more here <http://bhrd.org/fe/infocus.php?page=39> and support
efforts to demand justice for people living with HIV/AIDS.** **

The Business and Human Rights Documentation (B-HRD, pronounced Be Heard)
Project <http://www.bhrd.org/> is a new interactive, multi-lingual
information portal that provides grassroots groups, NGOs, experts,
advocates, academics, and the public at large with vital information about
the human rights impacts of business activities, and with much needed
advocacy tools to hold businesses accountable in a globalized world.

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Designed to complement the Business & Human Rights Resource
Centre<http://www.business-humanrights.org/Home>,
B-HRD has three major sections: an *In Focus* section that highlights
particular situations of abuse and the strategies used by human rights
defenders to hold businesses accountable; a *Tools & Strategies Forum* that
offers tools, resources, and advocacy strategies to help prevent and seek
justice for business-related abuses; and a searchable *Database* of over
160 human rights reports that document first-hand the impact of businesses
on human rights.****

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The B-HRD Project is a joint initiative of the International Network on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net <http://www.escr-net.org/>)
and the International Human Rights Clinic of the Center for Human Rights
and Global Justice (CHRGJ <http://www.chrgj.org/>) at New York University
School of Law.



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