VERY SERIOUS CHARGE  I MUST SAY - Jagannath.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gopal Dabade <drdabade@...>

Date: Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Subject: PHA-Exch> Advance Marketing Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal vaccineis
siphoning off MDG funds
To: PHM <pha-exchange@...>, aidanindia <aidanindia@yahoogroups.com>

Cc: Jacob Puliyel <puliyel@...>, Janaarogya Andolana
<jaak@yahoogroups.com>




Dear friends at PHM,

Persons have reacted with disbelief at our posting on the WHO response to our
letter titled “WHO to blame for dangerous child vaccine?” which was posted
on PHM e-forum dated 24th April 2009 on the pneumococcal vaccine. AIDAN
(http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/) and its members now call for a wider debate
on how MDG funds and GAVI funds are utilized.


The pneumococcal vaccine illustrates the problem quite neatly. Madhi et al in
the Bull WHO (http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/10/08-056572.pdf) have
given data on the numbers actually helped by the vaccine. 1,000
children need to be vaccinated to prevent 4 cases of pneumonia. Given
that the vaccine costs Rs 12,000 per child (US $ 250) in India, Rs 12
million (US $250,000) will be spent to prevent these 4 cases of
pneumonia that would cost Rs 40 (US $1) to treat. This is the vaccine
about which AIDAN wrote to the DG WHO and the reply dated 3rd April 2009
suggests that there seems to be a complete disconnect with the ground
realities*.


The reply sates:-

 “We
think that the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines, where merited by
evidence of the disease burden, would be of tremendous benefit, saving
many lives, particularly of children. WHO stands ready to assist its
Member States to assess the need for the use of specific new vaccines,
to aid in decision-making, prioritization and introduction, and to work
on solutions for financing them. We look forward to creating a world
where no person should die of a vaccine-preventable disease and to
cooperating with countries and partners to realize this goal.”


By entering into AMC (Advance Marketing Commitments for vaccines, accessed at
http://www.vaccineamc.org/)
with vaccine manufacturers to market this vaccine in developing
countries MGD and GAVI funds are being siphoned off to vaccine
manufacturers without commensurate benefits to the children in
developing countries.


We
call on PHM members and other like minded groups and individuals to
lobby with their governments to demand more answerability from WHO on
how it spends scarce MDG and GAVI funds


 


Dr Gopal Dabade

Dr Jacob Puliyel
All India Drug Action Network,

(http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/)
*The correspondence can be accessed at:-
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=0cf52d0d2e2f36617069484bded33bcdc16827562d880\
744



--
http://novartisboycott.org/petition

Dr Gopal Dabade,
57, Tejaswinagar,
Dharwad 580 002
Tel 0836-2461722
Cell (0)9448862270

www.jagruti.org

http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/
www.daf-k.cjb.net

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