After years of local and global battles, cheaper generic medicines have become more available, bringing medical treatment within reach of especially poor people. But the right to access affordable medicines seems under renewed attack. Laws have been introduced in east African countries which threaten the production and distribution of generic drugs.

The inclusion of intellectual property rights in trade rules through the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in 1994 hold very real dangers. Most pertinent among these is poorer countries being prevented from serving the health care needs of their populations because of prohibitions on the production or importation of cheaper generic medicines. This has life-or-death implications for people living in the poor South, including in African states. On this page, IPS Africa publishes articles that interrogate these issues.