Public Health

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014

Come join disaster relief effort at Hack and Save

April 1, 2014 – LeAnn Noh

Want to bring innovative solutions to disaster relief effort? Come join us at Hack and Save!

The Harvard School of Public Health Student Society for Refugee Health and Public Health, Innovation, and Technology Student Forum are organizing Hack and Save this April 12th.

Hack and Save is an ideas hack-a-thon focused on improving the quality of life of victims of disaster, disaster relief efforts, and access to medicine in disaster settings. The mission of Hack and Save is to harvest innovative and disruptive solutions to address the challenges in humanitarian efforts from the rich pool of talents in the greater Boston area.

Hack and Save is a 24-hour event that will invite experts and hackers to exchange and develop solutions for general challenges in humanitarian efforts or for specific problems posed by the organizers. Both individuals and teams are welcome to participate. For more information and registration check out www.HackandSave.org

September 20, 2013April 1, 2014

Findings from past LIDS project posted on client’s website

September 20, 2013 – Maria Parra-Orlandoni

In the Spring 2013 semester, LIDS completed a project entitled “Public Health and Food Advertising to Children” under the supervision of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe with Instituto Alana and ANDI as clients. Instituto Alana, a non-profit dedicated to children in Brazil, has been focusing on addressing serious public health issues that impact children as a result of development. ANDI is a news agency for children’s rights that is one of the leading NGOs in Latin America working at the intersection of media and development.

A team of LIDS students, led by Maria Parra-Orlandoni and Edgardo Perez, analyzed food marketing to children, focusing on regulating advertising to children for foods with high levels of salt, fats, and sugars, as well as beverages with low nutritional content. The team conducted comparative research to examine the self-regulation initiatives as compared to government regulation initiatives in an effort to identify the most effective policies for addressing Brazil’s nutritional issues and obesity epidemic that affects 15-30% of the children in Brazil.

Instituto Alana reported a summary of the LIDS team’s major findings in a recent blog post. Some excerpts of the post are translated to English below:

“The [LIDS] researchers conclude that the existence of a legal system that empowers underlying supervision and compliance with the rules is critical to the success of self-regulation….”

“[The LIDS findings] also affirm that if self-regulation does not have enforcement, i.e., liability and ability to punish, it will not be successful. In addition, LIDS research emphasizes the importance of setting clear rules that do not generate ambiguities causing overlaps or rules that allow the market to create their criteria according to private interests.”

Compulsory License and Access to Medicines: The Indian Experience To Date

Event Date: Monday, Sept. 16, 2013

Event Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Event Location: Wasserstein Hall Room B015, Harvard Law School

Description:

Mr. V. Lakshmikumaran is the founder and managing partner of Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (L&S). L&S is one of India’s elite law firms, serving several Fortune 500 and top Indian companies in international trade, tax, intellectual property, and corporate matters. Chambers Asia Pacific recently declared several L&S’s practices to be in the top-tier and exclaimed that Mr. Lakshmikumaran “possesses a virtual monopoly when it comes to indirect tax litigation” in India. Besides corporate and tax matters, L&S handles high-profile intellectual property (IP) cases and has been retained by the Indian government to argue several cases on its behalf before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Mr. Lakshmikumaran’s talk will focus on India’s compulsory licensing regime, which can be used to mandate that an IP holder license its IP right to another company or individual for a fee. In 2012, India’s government first exercised its power to issue a compulsory license, allowing a generic pharmaceutical company, Natco, to manufacture a version of the cancer-fighting drug, Nexavar, developed by Bayer, after finding, among others, the branded drug to be cost-prohibitive for India. This action is being closely watched worldwide because of the important role played by Indian companies in supplying affordable generic versions of medicines globally. In March 2013, the Indian Patent Appeals Body rejected an appeal from Bayer; the case is now before the High Court of Bombay. If upheld, the development of this regime may be a game changer for global health, opening the way for other Indian generic pharmaceutical companies to seek compulsory licenses to manufacture cheaper version of essential drugs. In fact, further applications have already been filed against Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Roche for other cancer-fighting drugs. Mr. Lakshmikumaran will discuss recent global trends in compulsory licensing, examine the Indian legal framework, and discuss the lessons of the Nexavar dispute. He will also explore the compatibility of India’s compulsory licensing regime with the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement.

LIDS will be co-hosting this event.

September 4, 2013April 1, 2014

LIDS contributes to new Brazilian book on advertising food to children

September 4, 2013 – Maria Parra-Orlandoni

Isabella Henriques, director of Brazilian NGO Instituto Alana, and Veet Vivarta from Brazilian NGO Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights (ANDI) have just edited and released a book entitled Food Advertising and Children – Regulation in Brazil and the World (Publicidade de alimentos e crianças: regulação no Brasil e no mundo), which analyzes the local and global regulatory policies of food advertising, comparing the initiatives of different countries.

About the Book

The book, which is a collection of essays, was published through a joint effort by Instituto Alana, ANDI, and LIDS. LIDS’ major contribution was conducting comparative research involving seven selected countries: Canada, Australia, United States, European Union, Sweden, France, Germany, and United Kingdom.

Aimed at legal professionals and public administrators, the collection of essays seeks to inform and encourage the adoption of effective measures to protect children from the negative effects of food advertising in Brazil and elsewhere. “Knowing the way other countries are dealing with the issue of advertising of food and non-alcoholic beverages is essential for the construction and implementation of the Brazilian legal bases,” writes Henriques.

The book meets Instituto Alana and ANDI’s objectives of promoting children’s rights through media, which is a goal that requires accounting for the economic interests of large industries. The hope is that focusing on children’s advertising helps boost responsible consumerism from and early age. In the case of ads for foods with high-caloric content or low nutritional value, addressing children’s advertisement becomes a matter of public health due to the growing obesity epidemic among Brazilian children.

The first part of the book creates the proper context by exploring the current situation of Brazil, the laws in place, the self-regulatory agreements, and the reinforcement of statutes, bills, and relevant regulatory guidelines. It also discusses the challenges and prospects for regulation in the country, as well as the need for joint action from social organizations, schools, businesses, and governments to protect children.

The book later features an analysis by Professor Corinna Hawkes, a key actor in the public policy agenda in the United States and president of the Group of Experts in Food Marketing for Children, at the World Health Organization. Hawkes writes about food marketing to children in the world, the policies that have been created on the subject, and the policies’ consequences.

Food Advertising and Children – Regulation in Brazil and the World is available in Brazilian bookstores. It is also available through the publisher’s web site (www.livrariasaraiva.com.br) or by phone (55 (11) 4003-3390).

About Instituto Alana and ANDI

Instituto Alana promotes critical awareness about product and services consumption practices by children in Brazilian society. ANDI is one of the leading NGOs in Latin America working at the intersection of media and development.