A Needle in a Haystack? Human Rights Framing at the World Trade Organization for Access to COVID-19 Vaccines.

How and why is implicit and explicit human rights language used by World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators in debates about intellectual property, know-how, and technology needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, and how do these findings compare with negotiators' human rights framing in 2001? Sampling 26 WTO members and two groups of members, this study uses document analysis and six key informant interviews with WTO negotiators, a representative of the WTO Secretariat, and a nonstate actor. In WTO debates about COVID-19 medicines, negotiators scarcely used human rights frames (e.g.

Global health education in U.K. universities.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a paradigm shift in global health, casting a previously niche academic discipline into a headline dominating field of research. However, accurate information on the delivery of global health education (GHE) at a university level is lacking. This study aims to assess current GHE practices in U.

Quantity and quality of conflict of interest policies at German medical schools: a cross-sectional study and survey.

Objectives: To assess the quantity and evaluate the quality of policies and curricula focusing on conflicts of interests (COI) at medical schools across Germany.

Design: Cross-sectional study, survey of medical schools, standardised web search.

Setting: Medical schools, Germany.

Global health research and education at medical faculties in Germany.

Background: Universities undertake the majority of publicly funded research in Germany and hence bear a responsibility to contribute to global health efforts. So far, involvement and impact of German medical faculties in global health are unknown. Our aim was to systematically asses and evaluate German medical faculties' contribution to global health related research and education, as well as their policies and practices concerning open access publishing and equitable licensing.

Global health equity in United Kingdom university research: a landscape of current policies and practices.

Background: Universities are significant contributors to research and technologies in health; however, the health needs of the world's poor are historically neglected in research. Medical discoveries are frequently licensed exclusively to one producer, allowing a monopoly and inequitable pricing. Similarly, research is often published in ways that make it inaccessible.

ReRouting biomedical innovation: observations from a mapping of the alternative research and development (R&D) landscape.

In recent years, the world has witnessed the tragic outcomes of multiple global health crises. From Ebola to high prices to antibiotic resistance, these events highlight the fundamental constraints of the current biomedical research and development (R&D) system in responding to patient needs globally.To mitigate this lack of responsiveness, over 100 self-identified "alternative" R&D initiatives, have emerged in the past 15 years.

Using Co-authorship Networks to Map and Analyse Global Neglected Tropical Disease Research with an Affiliation to Germany.

Background: Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) has increased in recent decades, and significant need-gaps in diagnostic and treatment tools remain. Analysing bibliometric data from published research is a powerful method for revealing research efforts, partnerships and expertise. We aim to identify and map NTD research networks in Germany and their partners abroad to enable an informed and transparent evaluation of German contributions to NTD research.

Overcoming Obstacles To Enable Access To Medicines For Noncommunicable Diseases In Poor Countries.

The modern access-to-medicines movement grew largely out of the civil-society reaction to the HIV/AIDS pandemic three decades ago. While the movement was successful with regard to HIV/AIDS medications, the increasingly urgent challenge to address access to medicines for noncommunicable diseases has lagged behind-and, in some cases, has been forgotten. In this article we first ask what causes the access gap with respect to lifesaving essential noncommunicable disease medicines and then what can be done to close the gap.

Poverty-related and neglected diseases - an economic and epidemiological analysis of poverty relatedness and neglect in research and development.

Background: Economic growth in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) has raised interest in how disease burden patterns are related to economic development. Meanwhile, poverty-related diseases are considered to be neglected in terms of research and development (R&D).

Objectives: Developing intuitive and meaningful metrics to measure how different diseases are related to poverty and neglected in the current R&D system.

Should academic therapeutic patents go to the highest bidder?

Universities conduct biomedical research with the self-stated goal of disseminating the benefits to the global public. Licensing therapeutic patents to the highest bidder is counterproductive to this aim, as it prioritizes income maximization over dissemination. We believe that licensing strategies focused on promoting broad access to university-discovered therapeutics better serve both the mission of universities and the public good.