South Africa Universities Hold Human Rights Trainings

With support from OSI, two South Africa universities held training workshops in May and July 2009, which focused on intellectual property, access to essential medicines, and human rights. 

The first training took place at the University of Pretoria in May. The training featured discussions on how countries can use flexibilities contained in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) to advance access to medicines at the national level. The workshop also addressed the dangers of newly introduced anti-counterfeiting legislation in several African countries, which could threaten the development of generic medicines. Participants at the workshop included law students and legal practitioners from across Africa.

The second workshop was an intensive two-week certificate program held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Participants for this course were mostly members of NGOs (including many OSI grantees), and came from 10 African countries. Workshop sessions included strategy development to address medicine shortages, anti-counterfeiting legislation, and use of TRIPS flexibilities.

OSI's Access to Essential Medicines Initiative, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, also funded a parliamentarian workshop on May 11-13 for members of the South African Development Community. The aim of this training was to build the capacity of parliamentarians to effectively utilize TRIPS flexibilities in ensuring access to medicines in their countries.