The Access Campaign turns 20 in 2019. Many people around the world make up the bigger story of the journey of access to medicines - and we are collecting them!
What kind of stories do we publish?
✅ Send us a memory of a moment, or an event that sparked your journey into Access to medicines, or an event/moment that stands out as significant to you along that journey.
We’re looking for personal anecdotes, (of the places you lived/ travelled/ worked/) your experiences treating people, being treated or talking about challenges you faced, be it clandestinely transporting medicines in order to provide people with needed proper treatment, or being forced to prescribe potentially treatments because there were no alternatives available, marching in the streets, challenging big pharma, supporting a campaign etc. For those working in the advocacy sphere, it could be the moment when a government started buying a medicine/vaccine/test that you had worked to make available, or a company developing a product with your support/guidance that would make a big difference to the way people can access their treatment.
It can be a moment of triumph, or a moment of despair, a moment of change or something that highlights how far we still have to go.
Maybe some of these questions can guide you or inspire you, but please remember, we you have to keep it short for social media!
⚠️ Use simple language!
⚠️ Respect people’s privacy and do not share names, health information, pictures or video unless you have their consent. These individuals might not want to be mentioned publicly. Anonymise whenever possible. Don’t include names of patients, photos of patients who are in a vulnerable position, or a combination of many identifying details (name, age, location, physical description, identifying details of family members).
- Tell us about an experience you had trying to procure a medicine or vaccine you needed. Or a time where you didn’t have a way to diagnose people in your care, if you are medical. Or that time when you had to build a huge, complex cold chain to get the vaccines from A to B if you are a logistician.
- If you are in advocacy, tell us about a time you found yourself in a room, trying to get decision makers to do the right thing - how did it feel?
- Tell us about a moment you knew you had made a difference through your work - a court ruling, a set of new treatment guidelines etc
- Tell us about a moment you suffered a reverse after months or even years of effort - how did that make you feel ?
- Tell us about a choice you were forced to make with a person in your care, because of a lack of availability of medicines.
- When were you angriest?
- When were you most hopeful?
- Has any progress been made since that incident? What do you wish would happen?
- Tell us about a campaign you supported. What inspired you? To what lengths did you go to make something happen?
We will also need:
✅ Photo of you today - or more or less ! for a mini portrait photo.
✅ A picture of you back in the day or in action or a video or any other creative element you think would express this (a drawing, a poem or a song)