Global Pulse Blog

Natto is definitely not your ordinary aroma (it lends a putrid smell to virgin noses)! Natto, a type of fermented soybean foodstuff, has regularly accompanied meals in Japan, Korea, and other countries for centuries.  I have a Japanese friend that eats natto with hot mustard, rice and diced green onions.  I have ordered natto at Domo, a Japanese country foods restaurant in Denver, for several years, and I have enjoyed a Korean version of natto in soup form (chung guk jang jigae) my entire life. Until recently, however, I had no idea that my Korean grandmother eats natto, and even makes it in her backyard!

A recently published article by Wired highlights natto and its applications in medicine. Besides its thrombolytic activities (prevents coagulation of blood and promotes fibrinolysis of existing thrombi), natto’s effects are being researched for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.  It is not coincidence that Japanese have the longest life span! (Modern medicine has a lot to learn and adopt from indigenous peoples).

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Students from Chicago Medical School, Rush and UIC protest in solidarity with activists, patients and physicians in Bogota, Colombia and Mexico City, Mexico. Terri Ford and folks from AIDS Healthcare Foundation flew out from Los Angeles to organize a protest in front of Miles White’s home in Lake Forest, IL. We ask White and Abbott to lower Kaletra prices in Mexico and Colombia. Video of the protests and parody will be posted soon…  

Abbott Drug Pricing Condemned by AIDS Advocates in International Protests

In Coordinated Actions Wednesday, Protesters in Mexico, Colombia and the US Demand that Abbott Lower the Price of Its Key AIDS Drug Kaletra;

Advocates Otherwise Vow to Seek Compulsory Licenses in Colombia and Mexico 

 In US, AHF to Also Premiere 60 Second Video Parody Blasting Abbott and CEO Miles White on

YouTube and Place Spot as TV Commercial on Select Chicago Area Television Stations

CHICAGO (January 28, 2009) As part of an ongoing multinational campaign to lower drug prices and improve access to lifesaving AIDS treatments globally, AIDS advocates from three countries—Colombia, Mexico and the United States—are holding simultaneous protests today in each of the three countries targeting Chicago-based pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories over the pricing of its AIDS drug, Kaletra, which can be a key component of lifesaving AIDS drug treatment regimens, particularly as part of what are known as ’second-line’ treatments and salvage therapy.

Advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the group coordinating the US protest in the Chicago area (which is being supported by local student activists who have been involved in the AIDS drug pricing issue) will also release a sixty second video parody lambasting Abbott and its CEO, Miles D. White over the drug giant’s continuing coldhearted actions on the pricing of its key AIDS drugs. The video parody will premiere publicly for the first time when it is posted on YouTube Wednesday in conjunction with the coordinated international protests in the three countries. The spot will then also run as a paid television commercial on select Chicago area television stations.

“People may not be aware that Abbott is abusing NAFTA’s patent protections to charge five times as much for Kaletra in Mexico as it does in other middle-income countries, keeping this lifesaving drug out of reach for nearly all those living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico,” said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. “We hope these simultaneous international protests in Mexico, Colombia and the US will help bring about an end to Abbott’s price-gouging policies in Mexico and Colombia that shamefully continue to place profits ahead of saving lives.”

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Thanks to Physicians for Human Rights (http://students.phrblog.org/) for highlighting Global Pulse! JBracero, Editor in Chief

Please spread the word about Global Pulse, AMSA’s Intl Health Journal! www.globalpulsejournal.com/blog – Julio Bracero, Editor-in-Chief

Major updates to the blog and website are coming VERY soon – stay tuned! Julio Bracero, Editor-in-Chief

• Thinking about essential medicines… www.uaem.org #

Health policy and global health is inextricably linked. Whether through health humanitarian aid policies (PEPFAR anyone?), trade policies, poor resource allocation to support public hospitals, or a government’s choice whether to provide universal health insurance coverage, it plays as great a role as the biological and social processes that can make and keep us ill.

My hope as a new editor is to use my portion of the Global Pulse blog to highlight these connections.  I believe that no physician is prepared to practice medicine until they understand the political and structural powers that affect their health system and patients. Please check back often, and I encourage you all to comment on the stories I post and send me any that you think are important. I am especially interested in medical student activism around health policy issues, and would love to write about your project to educate and inspire other students.

Part of the editorial staff of Global Pulse met recently at the amazing Physicians for Human Rights’s National Student Conference from January 31-February 1st at Brown University. From left to right, Sujal Parikh, Hana Akselrod, & your truly. Yes, we have selected a new editorial board! We will tell you all about them soon enough. Hana is first year med student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Sujal had such a good time last year, that he decided to stay as editor for this year.

Expect the blog to become much more active with our new members!