Wars, floods, famines and riots make headlines. Everyday situations don’t. So when the media of Europe and North America become interested that one third of people living in the developing world do not have access to medicines, a minor miracle has occurred. Poor access to treatment has been around for a long time, but we are hearing about it now largely because of the gravity of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.
Encouragingly, this has also caught the attention of the world’s leaders. The G8, which includes the world’s dominant economies, will meet in Genoa in July. The cost of health in developing countries will be on the agenda. In particular, discussion will focus on three communicable diseases that have not received sufficient attention from pharmaceutical companies or governments: tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS.
