The Left Against the Public Health

  • by: |
  • 08/09/2007
Great piece in the South China Post by Jerry Norris of the Hudson Institute on how the left, again, will let poor people die in order to kill drug companies and capitallism. I guess that's their version of a trade off.

It's politics vs science in global health

July's meeting of the International Aids Society, in Sydney, was another measure of how the global fight against HIV/Aids is falling short. Despite US$31 billion spent since 2003, infection rates continue to rise and political agendas are tragically undermining sound science.

The global health community anticipates having some 2 million people on antiretroviral treatment by the end of the year. The World Health Organisation is promoting a target of 10 million Aids patients under treatment by 2010 - independently of evidence-based medicine, because we know virtually nothing about patient outcomes.

There is a disturbing lack of medical records, and no cost-benefit analysis for each therapy has ever been done by the WHO or its global partner agencies.

Most donors treat people because they are poor rather than because they are sick. Science has been set aside in favour of reaching arbitrary targets as quickly and cheaply as possible, yielding numbers for politicians rather than medical records for clinical review.

Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow at the United States-based Council on Foreign Relations, sees bigger lessons in the global HIV/Aids effort's failures. With so much money that has so many strings attached, all focused on a single disease, we are systematically hobbling low- and middle-income countries' ability to improve their overall health systems.

The international political left has been cynically using the global Aids effort towards its own ends, particularly around basic international drug patent rules. It advocates theft rather than partnership in drug pricing policy, and sees the private sector as the enemy. Major non-governmental organisations, such as Oxfam, have made strange bedfellows to further this political cause.

Oxfam and its allies are persistently working to have the military dictatorship in Thailand become the first government to break patents on antiretroviral and other chronic disease medications. The dominoes are in place to fall, and the impact on new Aids drug development could be devastating.

These political battles are not supported by science, and are sand in the wheels of the mechanisms necessary to overcome HIV/Aids and every other major health threat.

The left must give up its incessant crusade against market economics; the private sector must commit to health care improvements as a strategic investment over the long-term, not mere charity. Deals on drug pricing should not be political footballs but fall under an agreed-upon approach which supports the rule of law, ensures safety and prevents counterfeit products from entering the market.

The lesson of HIV/Aids is a serious warning sign about the giant potential that global public health has, for ill or for good, depending on how we approach it. Failure to make serious progress will have enormous consequences.
CMPI

Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization promoting innovative solutions that advance medical progress, reduce health disparities, extend life and make health care more affordable, preventive and patient-centered. CMPI also provides the public, policymakers and the media a reliable source of independent scientific analysis on issues ranging from personalized medicine, food and drug safety, health care reform and comparative effectiveness.

Blog Roll

Alliance for Patient Access Alternative Health Practice
AHRP
Better Health
BigGovHealth
Biotech Blog
BrandweekNRX
CA Medicine man
Cafe Pharma
Campaign for Modern Medicines
Carlat Psychiatry Blog
Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look
Conservative's Forum
Club For Growth
CNEhealth.org
Diabetes Mine
Disruptive Women
Doctors For Patient Care
Dr. Gov
Drug Channels
DTC Perspectives
eDrugSearch
Envisioning 2.0
EyeOnFDA
FDA Law Blog
Fierce Pharma
fightingdiseases.org
Fresh Air Fund
Furious Seasons
Gooznews
Gel Health News
Hands Off My Health
Health Business Blog
Health Care BS
Health Care for All
Healthy Skepticism
Hooked: Ethics, Medicine, and Pharma
Hugh Hewitt
IgniteBlog
In the Pipeline
In Vivo
Instapundit
Internet Drug News
Jaz'd Healthcare
Jaz'd Pharmaceutical Industry
Jim Edwards' NRx
Kaus Files
KevinMD
Laffer Health Care Report
Little Green Footballs
Med Buzz
Media Research Center
Medrants
More than Medicine
National Review
Neuroethics & Law
Newsbusters
Nurses For Reform
Nurses For Reform Blog
Opinion Journal
Orange Book
PAL
Peter Rost
Pharm Aid
Pharma Blog Review
Pharma Blogsphere
Pharma Marketing Blog
Pharmablogger
Pharmacology Corner
Pharmagossip
Pharmamotion
Pharmalot
Pharmaceutical Business Review
Piper Report
Polipundit
Powerline
Prescription for a Cure
Public Plan Facts
Quackwatch
Real Clear Politics
Remedyhealthcare
Shark Report
Shearlings Got Plowed
StateHouseCall.org
Taking Back America
Terra Sigillata
The Cycle
The Catalyst
The Lonely Conservative
TortsProf
Town Hall
Washington Monthly
World of DTC Marketing
WSJ Health Blog