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Global Access to Medicines Month

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We are excited to announce that February 7th-March 7th, 2011 will be UAEM’s Global Access to Medicines Month (GAMM) in which students from around the world engage in collective action to increase global access to biomedical innovations developed on our campuses. All UAEM members at colleges and universities across the globe are invited and encouraged to participate in this international month of events and actions. Students in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Turkey (just to name a few) will come together as a unified voice and advocate for the right of patients in the developing world to get the life-saving treatment they need. We hope that you and your colleagues will join in on GAMM 2011.

The focus of the upcoming GAMM will be global access licensing, which is central to the vision and mission of UAEM. Previously, students have used this month to gather endorsements of the Philadelphia Consensus Statement, engage university scientists in our efforts, and fight against federal legislation that would hinder access to medicines. Now we ask all of our chapters to focus on moving their campaigns to reform university technology transfer and licensing activities to the next level. We understand that some chapters are in the initial stages of engaging with their administration while others are in high-level negotiations regarding changes to existing global access policies. However, we cannot rest until every potential drug, diagnostic, or vaccine developed on a university campus is licensed with global access provisions.

Put together a teach-in, hold a movie screening, start a letter-writing campaign, publish op-ed’s, meet with your administrators, organize a demonstration; however you choose to participate in GAMM just make sure it will bring you a step or a leap closer to your goal of global access licensing on your campus. Thank you for your hard work, determination, and support of UAEM’s efforts. With collective action we can bring about great change.

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

Looking forward to being in touch and hearing about the headway you make through your action. 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