The world’s renowned scholar and former Director of Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, visited Rhodes University to give a series of lectures on essential medicines.
Among the myriad of activities and lectures he gave during his visit, Professor Hendrick ‘Hans’ Hogerzeil highlighted some global aspects of medicine supply and pharmaceutical policies of essential medicines - a small number of selected medicines which lead to good health care which are cost-effective and easier to manage.
Balancing Patents with public health needs
In one of his public seminars, Prof. Hogerzeil highlighted the problem that several countries, including South Africa are facing, that of introducing essential medicines in the market at very high prices.
As part of ensuring that essential medicines are available, affordable and accessible, Prof. Hogerzeil said that patents and the problem of very expensive essential medicines have to be balanced with prioritising public health needs. He noted that South Africa has made big advances since the apartheid era towards making basic services available to everyone. However there is a lot of work that needs to be done for the progressive realisation of these public health goals.
The role of universities in bettering patent arrangement
Among various aspects in which health care professionals contribute to communities, universities have an irrefutable role in also making information about patents and public health available to the public. Professor Hogerzeil emphasised that globally, university students are collaborating to prepare projects or campaigns for a better patent arrangement.
“You need young people to prioritise the balance between public health and patents,” he said, “and this is a recommendation to any university including Rhodes,” he argued.
Service learning as a teaching tool
Third year students of the Faculty of Pharmacy went to various dining halls to give health promotion presentations to the support staff members. The presentation ranged from topics such as “Meat in an African diet” to “Sugar in my tea/coffee: What should I know?”
According to Prof. Hogerzeil this working tool has been very effective. “To expose support staff in the dining hall to health promotion and disease prevention messages is a good idea. People need these,” he said.
RUPSA as a sustainability measure
As part of making sure that these interventions are sustainable, Prof. Sunitha Srinivas of Rhodes University’s Faculty of Pharmacy said that “Rhodes University Pharmacy Students Association (RUPSA) have and will continue being involved in creating health conversations on campus and in the wider Grahamstown area.” She noted that service learning is part of the curriculum in Pharmacy Practice.
Prof. Srinivas emphasises the importance of RUPSA and their health promotion activities as a sustainability strategy of keeping the ‘healthy population healthy’, and to create awareness on consequences of uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes, and many other diseases that can be prevented and better managed. “With more healthy people, we will also have more productive people and this will result in a better economy for the country. We can’t achieve everything overnight, but the journey has started,” Professor Srinivas said.
Professor Hogerzeil encouraged students to give health information to Rhodes University support staff. “Creating posters for the dining halls that will be a reminder to the other students and staff for the whole year, will in that sense promote health awareness in the University.”
Professor Hendrick ‘Hans’ V. Hogerzeil is a professor of Global Health and the Right to Health at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He was the Director of Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2008-2011 and worked in the area of consolidating Essential Medicines programs globally from 1985 onwards in the WHO headquarters.
By Sanele Ntshingana
Photo: Prof. George Wells, Dr Peter Clayton, Prof. Hogerzeil and Prof. Srinivas