A society’s moral strength can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens

(Adams et al., 2004)

Section Introduction

In the last module we looked at the effects of the TRIPS agreement and patents on the prices of drugs, focussing largely on the less-developed world.  Most of the focus of these tutorials, and indeed the “Access to Essential Medicines Campaign” itself, will be on this area, mainly because the vast majority of deaths owing to a lack of access to health care occur in this region (99% of the ten million every year).(1)

A lack of access to a basic but essential level of health care does not only take place in poor countries however – this is in fact the reality for many groups of society in the so-called ‘developed’ world.  This module will look at the case of several populations for which this is the case, and show that equality in health care needs urgent attention across the world.

Modules in this section:

Ensuring Access for All