Students Push Better Global Access to Drugs

The culmination of the “Say Yes to Drugs” campaign, which has been advertising its message in front of the Science Center for much of this week, came on Saturday with a benefit dance and speech in support of better global access to generic drugs.

The campaign, co-sponsored by the Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition (HCGHAC) and other student groups, generated roughly $6000 for charity and close to a thousand signatures on an online petition.

The petition pushes for the University to remove “legal barriers to generic production of Harvard technologies in resource-limited countries,” making it easier for those in developing countries to access medicine based on discoveries made at Harvard.

Saturday’s events began with a speech from Dr. Matthew Craven, co-founder of Support for International Change, who focused on the importance of removing hurdles to wider production and distribution of generic drugs. Craven keyed on issues with “innovation, access[ibility] and delivery” of medicine to developing countries and argued that encouraging pharmaceutical companies to allow for the production of generic drugs was a step in the right direction in overcoming these challenges.

Later in the evening, the dance—which took place in the basement of the Northwest Science Building—brought in money for Partners In Health and the Asha organization via donations, ticket sales and t-shirt sales.

Last year, HCGHAC campaigned in support of University investment in a global health center and in research for neglected diseases, but the global economic downturn prompted the group to reevaluate their priorities.

According to HCGHAC member Krishna M. Prabhu ’11, the group decided to push for something that would not be a financial burden on the university but would still increase access to essential medicine. The South Asian Men’s Collective, the South Asian Women’s Collective, the Black Men’s Forum and the Association of Black Harvard Women co-sponsored the campaign and assisted in publicizing Saturday’s events.

According to group member Jillian L. Irwin ’11, HCGHAC’s next move is to work closely with the administration in order to ensure “concrete knowledge that global access will be implemented in the negotiating process.”

—Staff writer Beverly E. Pozuelos can be reached at pozuelos@fas.harvard.edu.