Last updated: 19 July 2007
WCRD member action
WCRD 2007 saw consumer organisations around the world unite in the growing wave of protest against unethical drug promotion.
Large numbers of CI members answered CI's call to send a warning to pharmaceutical companies that the unethical marketing of drugs will not be tolerated and to raise consumer awareness in the process.
What follows below is a snapshot of this member action that took place around the world. You can also read about the activities of CI's Spanish-speaking members.
Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Nicaragua, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Zimbabwe
Dominican Republic
Fundecom's (Consumer Rights Foundation) have embarked on an awareness-raising campaign.
The focus of the campaign is unethical drug promotion to consumers and to this end they have produced the poster on the left-hand side to mark the occasion of WCRD 2007.
Click on the poster to view an enlargement.
Back to top
Zimbabwe
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) planned a march in the capital. Their focus is to raise awareness of the potential harm caused by unethical drug promotion and they have asked consumers to provide testimony of their experiences. Their continuing activities will also focus on putting an end to the sales of counterfeit, expired and unregistered drugs.
Back to top
Brazil
The Institute of Consumer Defence (Idec) has supported the approval of a motion in the National Health Council against the marketing of drugs. The organisation also recommended a revision of a Regulation relating to this matter.
Back to top
Malaysia
In Kuala Lumpur, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) is working with the Health Ministry on a three-year national campaign to promote and educate the public on the rational use of drugs. Rational use is an important element in drug usage and prescription, and consumer empowerment will have a positive impact on prescription practices and improves the safety of self-medication.
FOMCA issued an official press release highlighting the unethical drug promotion activities of giant pharmaceutical companies operating in Malaysia.
In the press release, the importance of doctors prescribing ethically and rationally was also stressed, as well as consumer action in questioning doctors about their medication.
Back to top
Mali
Regroupement pour la défense des consommateurs du Mali (REDECOMA) met with the Deputy Director of the Drug Agency and the Director of the National Research Institute of Public Health about pharmaceutical drugs and traditional medicines. They sent out a press release and 21 media representatives attended their press conference. Further action included letters sent to the Ministry of Health.
Back to top
Jamaica
The National Consumer's League (NCL) held a church service together with Consumer Affairs, a government agency. The service introduced the theme of unethical drug promotion and NCL presented their message. They arranged a Library Exhibition to emphasize unethical drug promotion and their President was interviewed on radio and television. NCL also lobbied government to address gaps in the Food and Drug Act and they joined the Consumer Affairs Commission in a sponsored TV programme.
NCL - Library exhibition, 15 March 2007 (on the right)
Back to top
India
The Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) organised a public meeting and the Medical Director of the Sundaram Medical Foundation delivered a lecture on the unethical promotion of drugs. The lecture also highlighted the launch of the new 'Pharma-free' initiative amongst doctors in Chennai which aims to promote saying no to any interaction with pharmaceutical company representatives. About 75 people attended the meeting.
The Consumer Education and Research Society in India (CERC) celebrated WCRD with a Round Table meeting with the focus on the empowerment of the consumer and creating awareness about consumer rights and remedies on the one hand, and on the other sounding a note of warning against unethical drug promotion. The meeting was open to the public.
The Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) held a press conference and met with government officials and members of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. These meetings were covered by the media. They plan to submit a proposal to the Government of India to strengthen existing regulations on the marketing of pharmaceutical products.
Back to top
Nicaragua
In Managua, Lideconic (Liga por la Defensa del Consumidor de Nicaragua) held a press conference together with a group of doctors opposed to the unethical promotion of drugs.
Lideconic - Press conference, 15 March 2007 (on the left)
Back to top
Lebanon
Consumers Lebanon, in conjunction with two professional bodies representing doctors and pharmacists, produced a leaflet which was released at a press conference on the day.
Their campaign against unethical drug promotion so far has included several meetings with the mentioned two professional bodies to stop financial incentives to doctors for prescribing drugs, as well as TV advertising.
They plan to continue their activities with a letter to the government and parliament urging them to put legislation into place, as well as an open letter to the media to ask for a ban on TV advertising.
Back to top
Bangladesh
The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) held discussions with government officials and organised discussion meetings in 45 districts throughout the country. At these meetings they set up displays, and distributed posters and pamphlets. They also raised awareness of unethical drug promotion on radio and television.
CAB intends to increase awareness of the issue with a media campaign. They will also urge the government to take appropriate measures, which includes the rigorous enforcement of regulations and norms on drug promotion to uphold consumer rights to safety and information.
Back to top
Bolivia 
AIS-CODEDCO (Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Consumidor ) held several workshops around the country on WCRD. They stated that several transgressions of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Ethical Criteria for Drug Promotion have been detected in Bolivia.
CODEDCO - Workshop and dissemination of WCRD materials, 15 March 2007 (on the right)
Back to top
Greece
KEPKA organised a press conference and participated in a mass media broadcast on radio and television. They also sent the model letter to the Greek Government.
Back to top
Canada
In Ottowa, the Canadian Consumer Initiative (CCI) added its voice to the CI campaign and denounced the lack of ethics by pharmaceutical companies in drug marketing practices and called for stricter supervision of these practices on the part of governments.
CCI is a coalition of six major consumer organisations, namely the Alberta Council on Aging Services, the Automobile Protection Association, the Consumers Council of Canada, OPTION Consommateurs, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Union des consommatuers.
On the day, Union des consommatuers also released a press release and urged consumers to send postcards to their MPs calling for an end to the advertising of prescription drugs and for the enforcement of existing legislation banning the practice. Their campaign against unethical drug promotion has been running for several years and includes a formal complaint against a pharmaceutical company; a study on health visitors and a fact sheet about advertising prescription drugs on their website.
Back to top
Samoa
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour released a press release and participated in radio and television interviews together with the Samoa Consumer Association. Further press coverage included news features highlighting the campaign on several TV stations.
Back to top
Ivory Coast
The National Federation of Consumer Associations of Ivory Coast held a press conference and extended an invitation to the Ministry of Health and members of the professional bodies acting on behalf of doctors and pharmacists to talk about their efforts to curb unethical drug promotion. The Association's President was also interviewed on a national news channel.
Back to top
Sri Lanka
A seminar on unethical drug promotion was one of the events organised by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to observe WCRD. Speakers focused on the theme of unethical drug promotion, with particular emphasis on effective public education and encouraging the enforcement of current legislation on consumer protection.
Back to top
Yemen
The Yemen Society for Consumer Protection (YACP) released a press release and sent the model letter to the health authorities. They organised a seminar and received media coverage on the day.
Back to top
Chile
The Consumer Support Center of Chillan (part of the national consumer organisations network created by Odecu) organised a conference to commemorate WCRD 2007. The 'sale of diseases' was the emerging theme of the conference. Representatives of Consumers International and Odecu (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios de Chile) participated in the conference.
Speakers highlighted that, 'The pharmaceutical companies want healthy people to believe that they are ill, and want people who are ill to think that they are more ill than they actually are'. The drug Lipitor was used as a point in case. The publicity for this cholestrol-prevention drug states that, 'If you do not take your medicine, you are going to die soon'.
Back to top
Ecuador
The Ecuadorian Tribune of Consumers and Users received a response to the letter they had sent to the health authorities as part of their WCRD activities.
The Ecuadorian Minister of Public Health responded to the request that the government should act against the unethical promotion of drugs. In her letter she stated that 'she has communicated with the technical office in charge to pursue the matter'. This statement received media coverage on the following day and the Tribune's Director announced that they will monitor the situation closely.
Back to top
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Consumers Protection Association (ECoPA) held a one-day workshop with the focus on unethical drug promotion and how to stop it. Papers presented at the workshop examined 'The impact of promotion on the rational use of medicines' and 'The need for the enactment of a Consumer Law'. Particpants included members of government, NGOs and civil society.
The group also met with officials from the Ministry of Health and Drug Administration to determine a way forward for their campaign.
Banners, specifically designed to mark WCRD, were displayed in the squares of Addis Ababa.
Back to top
Singapore
The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) worked with the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) to conduct a price survey of common drugs in Singapore.
To commemorate World Consumer Rights Day, CASE held a nationwide walk on the weekend following WCRD. As a show of support for the consumer movement in Singapore, thousands of participants joined CASE in a walk around the Singapore River on the morning of 18 March 2007. More information is available on the CASE website.
Back to top
Ongoing campaign action
The European call to action
Consumers International and the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) are calling on the consumer movement in Europe to act on the current review of information to patients, which will allow the pharmaceutical industry to promote prescription medicines directly to consumers by veiling promotion as information. Read more about this campaign...
CHOICE in Australia
CHOICE is concerned that some pharmaceutical companies are employing sophisticated and potentially misleading marketing strategies to increase drug sales. Read more about this campaign...
Which? in the UK
The Which? campaign on drug advertising focuses on the fact that the current situation in the UK and Europe, where advertising prescription drugs is illegal, might be under threat. Read more about this campaign...
Consumers Union in the USA
This organisation publishes consumer reports and information about the latest studies, findings and testimony about problems in the US drug safety programme. Read more about this campaign...
Keep an eye out
Follow the progress of the campaign in this section and keep up to date on the campaign action of our members around the world.
you are here: