Access Our Medicine Calls on UN to Add Affordable Medicine to Sustainable Development Goals

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 6, 2015) - Access Our Medicine is proud to announce more than 100,000 supporters representing 800 million people worldwide are demanding that medicine be made more affordable. As part of its call to action, Access Our Medicine will be launching a Thunderclap campaign across social media on World Health Day, April 7th, to bring attention to the two billion people who can't afford the medicine they need.

With new cancer medicines priced above $100,000/year and hepatitis C treatments priced at $84,000, medicines are becoming too expensive for even the wealthiest countries in the world.

"We've made tremendous advancements in medicine, finding solutions for a wealth of conditions worldwide," said Alison Lawton, Founder of the Access Our Medicine Initiative. "The challenge now is to provide these life-changing medicines at an affordable rate to those who need them. History has shown us that innovative solutions and creative partnerships can transform the way medicine is developed and distributed; today we need to apply that knowledge for all medicines to change lives around the world."

More than 100,000 individuals and 160 organizations from 157 countries, the campaign has attracted attention from well-known public figures like Sir Richard Branson, Sean Penn, Sarah McLachlan, Petra Nemcova and Olympians Clara Hughes and Hayley Wickenheiser. Access Our Medicine hopes to add affordable medicine to the UN 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals determine global priorities for the next 15 years, so we can measure success and hold world leaders accountable.

"With World Health Day, the conversation around affordable access to medicine will be top of mind," said Lawton. "In order for the whole world to take notice we need to shout loud and in unison; that's why we're launching a Thunderclap campaign on this important day. Using Thunderclap we can collectively make a statement that can't be ignored: No medicine should be out of reach for those who need it because of its price."

Thunderclap is the world's first crowdspeaking platform, offering an opportunity for a collective group of individuals to share their voice in one unified message. Access Our Medicine's Thunderclap campaign can be found here. The ongoing Declaration for increased access to affordable medicine can also be found at www.accessourmedicine.com.

About Access Our Medicine

Access Our Medicine was developed to raise public awareness and engagement for the global problem of access to medicine. Millions of Canadians skip doses because they can't afford the costs. One in three Americans has trouble paying for food, medication or both, and three-quarters of women with breast cancer in India can't afford the medicine they need - this needs to change.

The Access Our Medicine Initiative is a project of Tides Canada Initiatives Society supported by the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation.