Revisiting the Trips Regime: Rwanda-Canadian ARV Drug Deal Tests the WTO General Council Decision

On 17 July 2007, the world was awakened to Rwanda's notification of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that it plans to import the HIV-drug TriAvir from Canada's giant pharmaceuticals company, Apotex. Two months later, Canada issued a compulsory licence allowing Apotex to use nine patented inventions for manufacturing and exporting TriAvir to Rwanda. On 4 October 2007, Canada notified the Council for TRIPS of the compulsory licence. In September 2008, Apotex said it will ship seven million antiretroviral pills to Rwanda to treat 21,000 patients. Against this backdrop, this article uses the Rwandan-Canadian drug deal to examine the utility of the WTO General Council Decision in making ARV drugs more accessible to Low and Middle Income Countries so far. In doing so, the article's analyses rely on the regime of the Canadian Access to Medicines Regime which was enacted after the WTO Decision. The author discusses some of the issues arising from the deal in light of the effectiveness of the General Council Decision in solving the problem of access to antiretroviral drugs within the right to health and HIV/AIDS context. The article also raises questions relating to the willingness of developing countries to take benefit of the TRIPS flexibilities and the obligation of developed countries to ensure that the flexibilities become a reality

Women’s Socio-Economic Rights in the Context of HIV and AIDS in South Africa: Thematic Focus on Health, Housing, Property and Freedom from Violence

Doctor Legum - LLDThe thesis finds that the majority of women affected by HIV and AIDS in South Africa still live in conditions of poor access to health services, inadequate access to housing, limited access to property and live amidst gender-based violence. Nevertheless, there exist legal protections and jurisprudential developments in the country that are significant for the realisation of women's rights in the context of HIV and AIDS. The thesis concludes that the law is not the ultimate site for change to improve women's lives, but that applied with other efforts, can be transformative.South Afric

A critical reflection on the African Women's Protocol as a means to combat HIV/AIDS among women in Africa

Magister Legum - LLMIt is within the context of the persistent feminisation of the HIV and AIDS pandemic that this study, based on the normative provisions of the African Women's Protocol, focused on gender, sex and sexuality in the context of HIV and AIDS. The regime of the African Women's Protocol embodies a framework that can be utilised to combat HIV/AIDS amongst women in Africa by addressing some of the most important issues that need to be tackled if women are to live through this epidemic.South Afric