Fine, will do so Kiggs. Christine
________________________________ From: Kiggundu Mukasa <[email protected]> To: A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile <[email protected]> Cc: Geofrey Toko <[email protected]>; Ben Droti <[email protected]>; Patrice Mawa <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, September 8, 2010 8:05:58 PM Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Science cafe brief Add gout to the lifestyle diseases Kiggs On Sep 8, 2010, at 7:39 PM, christine munduru wrote: Dear all, >In the last science cafe, members agreed that we write a brief of the >discussions and post to westnile net and also put the next topic for >discussion. >Unfortunately this was agreed after the cafe had ended so I will just write >what >I can remember. Next time we shall suggest a raportuer. > >The topic was intellectual property and access to medicines. This topic was >important becuase of the pending counterfeit goods bill in parliament that has >defined counterfeit in broad terms to include generic medicines which Uganda >depends on > > >ØDef: Intellectual property rights refers to a bundle of rights awarded by >society to individuals or organisations over creative works: inventions, >literary and artistic works and symbols, names, images, designs as a bargain >that the outcomes of the rights will benefit society at large. >Ø >ØIPRs generally can be categorised as follows: * ØIndustrial Property >(functional commercial innovations), * ØPatents, Industrial designs, >Trademarks, >Geographical Indications, Trade Secrets, Geographical Indications > * ØArtistic and Literary Property (cultural creations) * ØCopyright >Incase of patents, the individual is to have exclusive rights for 20 years and >this is where medicines fall. > > > Brand medicines Vs generic medicines >Brand medicines are those that are produced by the people(scientists) who >innovated them and according to international laws, they patent such drugs for >20 years without anybody reproducing them and are allowed to sell them at >whichever price they want.e.g drugs from USA, UK Germany etc. > >But generic medicines are those which have been reproduced by people who didnt >innovate them. They simply copy the formula and using the data of the >innovaters, reproduce exactly the same drug according to the same >international >law.e.g drugs from India and China. > >It is true we have counterfeit goods in Uganda but the aim of the pending law >is >to protect IPR which does not belong to Ugandans. This law will not adress the >safety and quality issues instead will limit access to medicines. It will also >limit access to knowledge materials, students will not be able to photocopy >text >books, farmers will not replant patent ed seeds etc. > > according to Trade Related Intellectual Property(TRIPS) agreement 1994, >counties were grouped into developed, developing and least developed like >Uganda. LDCs were to become TRIPs compliant in 2013 but incase of >pharmacuetilcals 2016. Developed countries were to become compliant as soon as >the law is operational and developing were to be compliant by 2005. >But Uganda is being pushed to have TRIPs plus laws even before we become TRIPS >compliant thru the counterfeit laws. > >Alot was shared in the discussion but cannot put them here. >members like Akile shared the work they are doing with our very own scientists >in the biosafety committee. Jose shared his expertise on seeds as far as >hybrid >seeds are concerned and these were all useful to enrich our knowledge. Okuti >Boroa also shared the gap he has noted between scientists and farmers through >his work. And this is where cafe would come to close such by taking science to >the community. > >Members then realized that Uganda is signing so many documents which will >become >a big problem to us in future but as a country we are not well positined to >bargain for good laws at international level. >However, at domestic level we should try to make good domestic laws. But the >challenge noted was also the free trade agreements Adovcacy was proposed as a >way forward but the problem again is lack of such information to the right >people. >Another challenge was also the fact that our country does not invest in >research >to support our briliant scientists to do their own research such that they can >patent their own products. > > >As a wayforward, members acknowledged that cafe would be a good way to enrich >us >and also come up with some solutions to our own life problems. They asked that >we post key issues discussed here and make sure this continues once a month. > >The next topic was selected as life style diseases like blood presure, >diabetes >and heart diseases. The facilitator was proposed to be our own Dr. Worodria >William. Patrice Mawa was to talk to him first for his availability. > >Our brother Matenga was then asked to move a vote of thanks to the facilitator >and the discussion went informal. > >Thanks > >Christine >_______________________________________________ >WestNileNet mailing list >[email protected] >http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet > >WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > >All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > >The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. >_______________________________________________ >
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