Press Releases

16 March 2004 HAI Europe announces release of book: MEDICINES OUTOF CONTROL? Antidepressants and the Conspiracy of Goodwill.
15 July 2003 POSITION STATEMENT: Health Action International to the Global Fund: Say NO to medicines donations!! Click here.
20 May 2003 Unaffordable Medicines: Data from New Pricing Manual Confirms Problem
24 October 2002 European Parliament soundly rejects move towards direct-to-consumer advertising. HAI Europe applauds Parliament's decision to protect public health, not industry's interests. Click here to read the press release.
3 October 2002 HAI Europe hails EU Committee's rejection of proposal to relax ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public.
Click here to read the press release. Click here to read the press release (in French) of Didier Claude ROD, Member of European Parliament.
5 September 2002 Dutch Inspectorate hardly monitors advertising of medicines, says Joop Bouma in an article published in the Dutch newspaper Trouw.
To read more articles in Trouw related to this (in Dutch) please click here.
19 June 2002 HAI Europe opposes Dutch health inspectorate's plan to stop monitoring pharmaceutical adverstising and marketing practices. To read the Press Release, click here: in English, in Dutch. For more background, click here to read a translation of an article published in Trouw.
9 April 2002

 HAI Europe releases report of the HAI Europe/EPHA symposium on direct-to-consumer promotion in the EU.
The full proceedings and a press release can be downloaded.
4 February 2002 Proposed relaxation of the EU ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines. Press release by HAI Europe and joint statement English version, French version by HAI Europe and the European Public Health Alliance.
2 February 2002 A Canadian/US study, as published in the British Medical Journal, on the influence of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising and patients' requests on prescribing decisions by Barbara Mintzes, Joel Lexchin et al. Click here to read study.
11 January 2002 News from HAI Europe and the European Public Health Alliance
Debate opens on Direct-to-Consumer Drug Promotion in Europe
14 November 2001 HAI and other NGOs issue statement on gains made at WTO conference in Doha, Qatar relating to access to essential medicines 14 November 2001
17 July 2001 HAI Europe criticises European Commission's decision to allow "disease awareness" campaigns for certain types of drugs
22 May 2001 HAI press release on final HIV/AIDS resolution passed at 53rd WHA
14 May 2001 From the World Health Assembly in Geneva
Public interest NGOs demand that the Global Health Fund meets poor countries' needs, not those of industry
7 May 2001 HAI Europe report highlights risks related to WHO's and others' involvement in public-private partnerships
11 April 2001 Joint NGO Statement on the WTO / WHO Meeting on Differential Pricing & Financing of Essential Drugs
13 March 2001 BUKO press release - 'Pharmaceutical Industry off-side': German overseas development minister Wieczorek-Zeul and German Evangelical Church support South Africa.