ESSENTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION: Is There a Right of Access? Chris Zielinski Informania Ltd.

ESSENTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION:

Is There a Right of Access?

Chris ZielinskiInformania Ltd.

Themes

• Information is not a monolith• Perspectives on Intellectual property:

– Relativity– Equity– The Information Age– Piracy

• Essential Information

Perspectives on Intellectual Property:

Relativity• Depends on:

– Who you are:• Writer (academic, trade,

software)• Publisher (journals, books)• Distributor (offline/online)• Information specialist• End user

– Where you are:• Copyright importer vs exporter• The death of territoriality

Perspectives on Intellectual Property:

Equity• Information equity:Information from all sources should be accorded equal access, equal economic value and equal rights [Note: the balance of information flow does not need to be equal, but it should be equitable]

Perspectives on Intellectual Property: The

Information Age• Information rich/poor• Fair use• Encryption

– Your key protects the privacy of your communications

– Their key prevents your access to information about you

– Your key protects your intellectual property

– Their key prevents your access to essential information

Piracy

Why?

• Because the original is too expensive

• Because the original is too scarce

Piracy: why Disseminates information more widely Reaches the economically-poor Reaches the information-poor Reaches audiences that wouldn’t risk buying something new at

the full price, but that might be interested, if they could sample an inexpensive version

Promotes the work, spreads the name of the author and publisher.

Promotes other, non-pirated, products Cheap software/content encourages the purchase of new

electronic hardware, which will be used for legitimate products subsequently

Responds to a sentiment of equity – “Why should they have information and not us?”

Piracy: why not Does not compensate author or publisher Inhibits sales of original Stifles original authorship and publishing Speeds up the introduction of alien cultural concepts Can introduce false information: leads to expensive and dangerous

mistakes Risks of introducing corrupted information - distortion of original

intentions of writer or publisher (political, factual, prejudicial) Can damage reputation of original author or publisher owing to

tendency to worse quality in the pirated version Cannot be updated or cited in statistics Cannot provide indications of impact Does not allow for feedback from readers Is bibliographically confusing

Essential information

• Information is not a monolith.• There is information to which the

entire human race has a right of access.

• But it is not all information. • Can we identify and define a concept

of “essential information” to describe this information with an access right?

Essential Information and Essential Drugs:

Definition• Essential drugs• “Essential drugs are those that

satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in the appropriate dosage forms, and at a price that individuals and the community can afford.”

• Essential information• Essential health information is

that which satisfies the health information needs of the majority of the population; it should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in the appropriate formats, and at a price that individuals and the community can afford.

Essential Information and Essential Drugs: Basic

Texts• Essential drugs• select and procure, “at reasonable

cost ... essential drugs of established quality corresponding to … national health needs”

• provide “essential drugs of adequate quality, in sufficient quantity and at reasonable cost to meet the health needs” of countries

• ensure “access of the whole population to essential drugs at a cost the country can afford”

• Essential information• select and procure, at reasonable

cost ... essential information of established quality corresponding to ... national health information needs”

• provide essential information of adequate quality, in sufficient quantity and at reasonable cost to meet the health information needs of countries

• ensure access of the whole population to essential information at a cost the country can afford

Essential Information: Continuing the

Definition• Essential information comprises the things we

need to know to survive, to be healthy, to plant the right seeds, to feed our families correctly.

• It includes information: – related to the basic minimum needs of humanity – tools for trade and economic development – essential to the development of backbone

industries, basic science and survival services in health, education, welfare, agriculture and labor

The Paris Revisions of the Berne Convention

– Enable developing countries to translate and reproduce materials for “teaching, scholarship or research” by compulsory license

– But:•impose (usually) a three-year wait•narrow definition of “developing country”•don’t cover current journal literature•in practice, rarely invoked

New rights, new wisdom?

• Is information essential to health and development?

• Does local information have the same rights as external information?

• Do people have a right to essential information?

• Does such a right need to be asserted and secured in some formal way?

Chris ZielinskiInformania Ltd

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