The courage to change the rules: a proposal for an essential health R&D treaty

Abstract

The medical needs of many of the world's population go unmet. A new treaty on essential health R&D could provide a binding framework to redirect today's scientific expertise to priority needs

Figure 1. Clinical Officer Preparing Sodium Stibogluconate Solution Injection for a Patient with Visceral Leishmaniasis

Sodium stibogluconate solution is administered by intramuscular injection for 30 days. The injection is painful and can cause toxic reactions. Developed in 1934, resistance of up to 65% has been documented in India. Around 50,000 people die from visceral leishmaniasis each year. New, effective drugs and diagnostics are urgently needed. (Photograph: Copyright Espen Rasmussen/MSF, Somalia, 2004)

Figure 2. Detection of African Sleeping Sickness by Lumbar Puncture

Lumbar puncture in patients with African sleeping sickness can be a painful and potentially dangerous maneuver that is the only way to determine if the disease has progressed to the second stage. New diagnostic tools are urgently needed, as are new treatments; current medicines are old, toxic, difficult to use, and their production is not guaranteed. Around 60,000 people die from Afican sleeping sickness every year. (Photograph: copyright Serge Sibert/MSF, Uganda, 1998.)