As India and the European Union prepare to meet at a New Delhi summit to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation since 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and He-Tic held a picket to warn that harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to medicine for people in developing countries. Photograph by Borrie Lagrange
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Photos from Global Actions Ahead Of EU-India FTA Summit

HIV/AIDS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TRADE
South AfricaEuropean Union
Photograph by Borrie Lagrange
As India and the European Union prepare to meet at a New Delhi summit to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation since 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and He-Tic held a picket to warn that harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to medicine for people in developing countries. Photograph by Borrie Lagrange

Affordable medicines from India under two-fold attack !

February 2012: This month sees a double attack on India’s role as ‘the pharmacy of the developing world’ that could stop people in developing countries getting hold of the medicines they need to stay alive and healthy.  

Firstly, the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, currently under discussion, still contains damaging provisions that unless they are removed from the final deal, could seriously restrict the production and export of affordable generic medicines from India.

And on a second front, this month also sees the opening in India’s Supreme Court of the latest legal case brought by drug company Novartis against India in an attempt to hobble the country’s capacity to produce affordable medicines.  The legal case specifically aims to weaken India’s patent law and make it easier to stop generic drug companies producing affordable medicines. 

Both actions seriously threaten the humanitarian work of MSF and others in providing medical care in developing countries.

Fighting back to keep affordable medicines available

In response, street demonstrations have already been held as far apart as London, Delhi and Johannesburg to express the public anger over the direction of the EU-India trade negotiations.

MSF cannot stand aside and we call on you to support us in our fight to keep the flow of affordable medicines from India safe.

Below is a selection of photos from actions in Cameroon with MSF & members of various activist groups; South Africa with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), MSF, and Section 27; as well as in the UK by student activists from the Stop AIDS Campaign.

Add your voice to the campaign, tell the EU "Hands off our Medicine" today

MSF & local activists groups in Cameroon demonstrated in front of the EU delegation on in support of the "EU, Hands Off Our Medicine" campaign.
MSF Access Mission Cameroon Antoine Joguet
MSF & local activists groups in Cameroon demonstrated in front of the EU delegation on in support of the "EU, Hands Off Our Medicine" campaign.
MSF & local activists groups in Cameroon demonstrated in front of the EU delegation on in support of the "EU, Hands Off Our Medicine" campaign. Photographs by Antoine Joguet

 

As India and the European Union prepare to meet at a New Delhi summit to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation since 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and He-Tic held a picket to warn that harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to medicine for people in developing countries.
India and the European Union prepare to meet at a New Delhi summit to finalize a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation since 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and He-Tic held a picket to warn that harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to medicine for people in developing countries.
Rally against harmful provisions from Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union. Photographs by Borrie Lagrange