Physical Health United States Project #28293

Support Student Advocacy for Access to Medicines

by Universities Allied for Essential Medicines Corp

Support Student Advocacy for Access to Medicines

Project Report | Aug 22, 2019
Brazilian students on the move!

By Luciana Lopes | Executive Director, UAEM Brazil

Education is the solution, not the problem

Brazil is making the news more than ever these days, and not always for the best reasons or causes. But although Brazil is facing difficult times, we have hope as young people are out there, doing their best to defend social justice and equity in health!

In Brazil, 95% of science is produced by public universities. Recently, the Federal Government has announced several budget cuts for federal universities, threatening their operation. In May, June and August, UAEMers joined national student movements in defense of Education and Science & Technology public policies. UAEM Brazil has, moreover, published an entire report explaining why public investments in research are essential to ensure the right to health - including the access to medicines.

In early August, during the 16th National Health Conference (CNS), in Brasília, our Brayzilian UAEMers had another great opportunity to defend its causes. The CNS is the event that best represents the "popular participation" in the Brazilian health policies decision-making processes. From August 4th to 7th, people discussed and selected proposals - originally raised during previous health conferences in Brazilian cities and states - to compose the 2020 - 2024 National Health Plan. UAEMers in Brasília, capital of Brazil, participated in the discussions and in the protest, in defense of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) - a universal health system that celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

We are grateful for all support to our young people as they fight for access to medicines, wherever! Thank you for supporting UAEM!

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May 13, 2019
UAEM student organizing in Brazil!

By Luciana Lopes | Executive Director, UAEM Brazil

UAEM Brazil conference

Our network is growing and we are happy to share with you some exciting news from Brazil.

In the end of March, UAEM Brazil held its annual meeting in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Members of all Brazilian chapters attended the meeting and it was the first time UAEMers from all countries where UAEM is present in Latin America were reunited! It was the UAEM Brazil Annual Meeting with the biggest participation of UAEMers from other countries: Argentina, Colombia and the United States. Students had the opportunity to discuss and learn about the importance of the Brazilian National Health System for the universal access to medicines in the country, neglected diseases and social determinants of health. It was also a moment to review UAEM's work in Latin America in 2018 and plan the future.

The new Coordinating Committee of UAEM Brazil was elected and, along with UAEM Global Campaign, three other topics were established for projects/campaigns in 2019: the defense of public researches and universities, antimicrobial resistance and the studen-driven empowerment of representatives of health councils to take action for the defense of the universal access of medicines.

Other good news are the efforts that have been made to reactivate UAEM chapters in two Brazilian cities: São Paulo and Pouso Alegre. An access to medicines seminar was held at the Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP) in the end of April and a conversation to start an UAEM chapter at the Medicine School of UNIVÁS in Pouso Alegre was initiated the with professors and the Academic Directory of the faculty.

We believe 2019 is going to be a very productive year for UAEM in Brazil.

Your support has made possible the growth of our network and we thank you for that. Together, we can empower students and their communities to take action for a better world.

Avante!

Luciana

Strategy meeting

Access to Smiles

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Feb 28, 2019
Stepping into 2019 with purpose

By Priscilla Li Ying | Executive Director - Europe

The excitement around a new year slowly wears off a few days into the year as our daily routine catches up on us. But at UAEM, the excitement kept buzzing, because our busy bees are teeming with life and purpose and motivation to bring about change in the access to medicines movement. New ideas, new projects, new student volunteers, new allies and supporters, we have it all.

The first international gathering brought together our student leaders from the US and Canada, to discuss joint strategies and actions which will further UAEM's missions. At the North America Leadership Meeting, held in Washington during the first weekend of February, theories of change, action plans and project ideas came together and paved the engagement work ahead for our volunteers in North America and Canada. The meeting also saw the participation of Brazilian and European representatives to share startegies and tactics from across the borders, and insights into the different contexts of work. Unsurprisingly, whatever the context, the challenge of access to medicines remains the same - high prices, lack of research and development and of transparency, inequitable access... Access to medicines is truly a global challenge, and UAEMers are ready to take that on by joining forces (and neurones) together.

Coming up in March is a meeting in Rio, Brazil, which will bring together Brazilian students with our new partners - Colombian and Argentinian students who are passionate about making medicines accessible to all in their countries.

The UAEM Europe Conference will also be taking place in April in Hamburg, and students from North America, Latin America and for the first time the region of Africa will be joining to discuss the role of universities when it comes to public research for public needs. Stay tuned for our next story!

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