Health Impact Fund – Raising Issues Of Distribution, IP Rights And Alliances | Intellectual Property Watch

"On 7 September, Professor Thomas Pogge addressed the Annual Conference of the Human Development and Capabilities Association (HDCA) and presented his Health Impact Fund (HIF) proposal. It was an inspiring and provocative lecture about one of the greatest injustices of our times – poverty related deaths. We find much merit in the proposal as a practical remedy to this global injustice, but also some concerns. We raise here for discussion issues of distribution, intellectual property rights, and alliances....There is, however, no objection made by the HIF proposal to the very high profits for healthcare innovations or any acknowledgement of health as a public good. As such, the proposal indirectly condones pharmaceutical practices of profiting from ill health and effectively undermines efforts to encourage open access to knowledge and innovation in the area of health (more on this below)...."