Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is holding a European Youth Essay Competition, calling for responses to the following question:

Why is Access to Medicines a pressing European issue today? What role should universities play in solving the global medical access and innovation crisis?

There are massive disparities in global access to life-saving medical technologies. A third of the world’s population lacks affordable access to lifesaving medicines, and more than one billion people are affected by one or more “neglected diseases”, which only draw a tiny fraction of global R&D investment.

Increasingly, this global access and innovation crisis is beginning to take its toll in settings that were traditionally labelled “high-income”. For example, cuts in health coverage and increasing co‐payments result in a growing access to medicines crisis in Southern, Central and Eastern European countries. The exorbitant price tags of new oncology and Hepatitis C products are subject to an increasingly heated debate, and there is a growing public concern about the complete lack of research in new antibiotics and vaccines.

Entries will be ranked by a jury of access to medicines experts and UAEM members. Winners will receive money prizes, and will have the chance to present their essays at UAEM’s European Conference in London in April 2015.

DEADLINE: Essays should be sent to [email protected] by December 1st, 2014.

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