Global Access to Medicines Month - April 2010

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) helps students campaign at academic institutions around the world to make certain that medicines developed on our campuses are made affordable and accessible to patients in developing countries. We also work to play a positive role in creating legislation that brings better access to healthcare to patients in our home countries and around the world. This legislation at the national level can have profound effects on access to medicines at the global level.

There have been critical shortcomings at a number of universities regarding their mission to promote public welfare. In order to hold them accountable, we are organizing a Global Access to Medicines Month of action in solidarity with UAEM chapters globally. We would like to invite your chapter to participate this April in a concerted action designed to encourage universities to:

• adopt global access licensing policies
• retract support of legislation that will prevent access to affordable biologic drugs
• retract opposition to policy recommendations that would improve innovation of and access to genetic diagnostics
• support reform to enable a country to effectively export affordable drugs to developing nations

The annual spring UAEM action is a fantastic and exciting rallying point for students across the globe to draw attention to the role of universities and access to medicines. We hope you can join us, please keep checking this website to learn more about the issues, how your chapter can take action, and to register your action.

Here’s 5 easy steps you can take to get involved in the Global Access to Medicines Month:

1. Download the GAMM toolkit
2. Plan your action
3. Register your chapter’s action
4. Take action!
   
5. Tell us how it went

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to UAEM's mission and vision. And don’t forget to register your chapter’s action!

Looking forward to being in touch and hearing about the headway you make through your action this spring. For any questions or comments regarding Global Access to Medicines Month, please contact your appropriate outreach coordinator (contact info here).

In solidarity,
UAEM Coordinating Committee