How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era
One of the modalities of access to medicines in South Africa consists in the paradoxical delegation of regulatory functions to non-state actors — namely, but not only, industry. Drug policies in neoliberal globalized states are characterized by their insertion into a global trade system which promot...
Enregistré dans:
| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
|---|---|
| Hovedforfatter: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
| Udgivet: |
Angles
2020
|
| Fag: | |
| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_613 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
openedition |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_613 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.613 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.613 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/613 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9myo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Pelletan, Charlotte néolibéralisme Afrique du Sud VIH/SIDA brevets ADPIC accès aux médicaments industrie pharmaceutique neoliberalism South Africa HIV/AIDS patents TRIPS access to medicines pharmaceutical industry One of the modalities of access to medicines in South Africa consists in the paradoxical delegation of regulatory functions to non-state actors — namely, but not only, industry. Drug policies in neoliberal globalized states are characterized by their insertion into a global trade system which promotes a growing commodification of medicines. At the same time, calls for the reform of national drug policies rise significantly. State formation in South Africa has been characterized by continuous negotiations and compromises with business, which at first sight questions the possibility of access policies. Opening the black box of the South African state amounts to demonstrating the state’s ability to roll out a political project which endeavours to have the pharmaceutical industry adopt the notion of universal access in a neoliberal context. This article attempts to shed a light on access mechanisms through the analytical deconstruction of the public market of antiretroviral medicines as a set of intertwined social relations. In South Africa, the role of industry, as heterogeneous as it is, has been deeply ambiguous and often denounced by civil society. Still, its role has been critical to ensure the supply of medicines. As a result, the Department of Health has been broadly dependent on industry, regarding the innovation agenda, the security of supply and industrial policy. Une des modalités d’accès aux médicaments en Afrique du Sud consiste dans la délégation — paradoxale — de fonctions régulatoires à des acteurs non-étatiques, en particulier - mais pas seulement - les industriels. Les politiques du médicament dans les Etats globalisés néolibéraux sont caractérisées par leur insertion dans un système commercial mondial qui promeut la marchandisation croissante des médicaments. Parallèlement, les demandes de réforme des politiques du médicament conduites au niveau national ont crû de manière significative. La formation de l’Etat sud-africain a été marquée par des négociations continues et des compromis avec les entreprises, ce qui pourrait sembler susceptible, de prime abord, de remettre en cause la possibilité-même de mettre en œuvre des politiques d’accès aux médicaments. Lorsqu’on ouvre la boîte noire de l’Etat sud-africain, on peut constater que l’Etat s’emploie à mettre en œuvre un projet politique visant à ce que l’industrie pharmaceutique adopte le principe de l’accès universel aux médicaments dans un contexte néolibéral. Cet article met en lumière les mécanismes d’accès aux médicaments en analysant le marché public des traitements antiviraux comme un ensemble de relations sociales entremêlées. En Afrique du Sud, le rôle des industriels — quelle que soit leur hétérogénéité — a été profondément ambigu, et dénoncé à ce titre par la société civile. Toutefois, le rôle de l’industrie pharmaceutique a été décisif pour garantir l’approvisionnement en médicaments. Il en résulte que le Ministère de la santé sud-africain a été largement dépendant des industriels en ce qui concerne aussi bien l’innovation que la sécurisation de l’approvisionnement et le développement industriel. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
néolibéralisme Afrique du Sud VIH/SIDA brevets ADPIC accès aux médicaments industrie pharmaceutique neoliberalism South Africa HIV/AIDS patents TRIPS access to medicines pharmaceutical industry |
| spellingShingle |
néolibéralisme Afrique du Sud VIH/SIDA brevets ADPIC accès aux médicaments industrie pharmaceutique neoliberalism South Africa HIV/AIDS patents TRIPS access to medicines pharmaceutical industry Pelletan, Charlotte How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| description |
One of the modalities of access to medicines in South Africa consists in the paradoxical delegation of regulatory functions to non-state actors — namely, but not only, industry. Drug policies in neoliberal globalized states are characterized by their insertion into a global trade system which promotes a growing commodification of medicines. At the same time, calls for the reform of national drug policies rise significantly. State formation in South Africa has been characterized by continuous negotiations and compromises with business, which at first sight questions the possibility of access policies. Opening the black box of the South African state amounts to demonstrating the state’s ability to roll out a political project which endeavours to have the pharmaceutical industry adopt the notion of universal access in a neoliberal context. This article attempts to shed a light on access mechanisms through the analytical deconstruction of the public market of antiretroviral medicines as a set of intertwined social relations. In South Africa, the role of industry, as heterogeneous as it is, has been deeply ambiguous and often denounced by civil society. Still, its role has been critical to ensure the supply of medicines. As a result, the Department of Health has been broadly dependent on industry, regarding the innovation agenda, the security of supply and industrial policy. |
| author |
Pelletan, Charlotte |
| author_facet |
Pelletan, Charlotte |
| author_sort |
Pelletan, Charlotte |
| title |
How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| title_short |
How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| title_full |
How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| title_fullStr |
How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| title_full_unstemmed |
How To “Talk Left and Walk Right” in South Africa: Access to Medicines in the Neoliberal Era |
| title_sort |
how to “talk left and walk right” in south africa: access to medicines in the neoliberal era |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.613 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/613 |
| _version_ |
1877293947791867904 |