Researchers Urged to Stay Independent
A call for a critical health research agenda not dictated by global trade-oriented agencies and pharmaceutical firms punctuated the national conference of social scientists in health-related fields in Cagayan de Oro in October.
Prof. Roland Simbulan, vice chancellor for planning and development of the University of the Philippines-Manila, said there is a need to reorient the research agenda, as more studies are becoming "donor-driven" or conducted in line with the agenda of pharmaceutical corporations and global agencies like the World Bank.
Speaking at the Second National Conference on Health Social Science organized by the Philippine Health Social Science Association, he noted that less research has been conducted on the implication of the rising cost of medicines, privatization of health care, and corporate-oriented international agreements on intellectual property rights such as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Simbulan lamented that a number of academe-based research institutions, including those in government-run UP, are turning into "academicians for hire who kowtow to interests of the corporate sector, WTO, and the World Bank."
While saying that he is not totally against foreign-assisted studies, Simbulan stressed that researchers should set the direction of their research and make sure that these would be relevant to existing health conditions in the country.
Simbulan said among the critical issues that social scientists have to research on are the impact of the TRIPS on the cost of medicines, the role of transnational corporations in health care, the privatization of the health-care system, implications of the reforms pushed by the World Bank and WTO, and the effects of genetically modified crops on health and the environment.
Simbulan also called for a study on the crafting of a national policy to address the massive migration of the country's doctors and other health workers, which is draining the country of intellectual resources in the field of health. MindaNews
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