Difference between revisions of "Amir Attaran"

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Dr. '''Amir Attaran''' is a lawyer (LL.B., University of British Columbia) and immunologist (DPhil, Oxford) who writes on public health and global development issues. He has been published in journals such as Nature, the Lancet, the Journal of the American Medicial Association, the Yale International Law Journal, and also in the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and other publications.
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Dr. '''Amir Attaran''' is a lawyer who writes on public health and global development issues. He is a member of [[Africa Fighting Malaria]]'s advisory board, a group funded in part by the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI).  
  
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Among his coauthors and those who have shared his views on human rights and development are Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi[http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/NewsArchive/16%20June%20NYT-%20When%20Politics%20Corrupts%20Money.htm)] and Jeffrey Sachs [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=11197373&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum].
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A 2005 biographical note states that he is Associate Professor of Law and Population Health, and the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa, [[Canada]]. It also states that prior to this he was an adjunct lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University, publishing research as part of the Center for International Development and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. "He has also advised and collaborated with numerous [[NGO]]s, [[UN]] agencies, governments, and corporations on aspects of international development, primarily in the area of public health," the biographical note states. <ref>"[http://www.aei.org/events/contentID.20050826151008757/default.asp African Health and Development: Are] the [[Millennium Development Goals]] Helpful?:Speaker Biographies", American Enterprise Institute, September 12, 2005.</ref>
  
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Attaran is a frequent critic of the unaccountability and poor performance of what he has called the "foreign aid industrial complex", and organizations such as USAID, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and although his work with Sachs inspired it, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In several notable instances, his criticisms, which were initially rejected, were later agreed to by the foreign aid industrial complex. Attaran led a team of scientists in a seminal 2004 paper in The Lancet which forced the international aid donors to cease treating malaria with obsolete and ineffective drugs (chloroquine) and to instead use newer and highly effective artemisinin combination therapies, which WHO now agrees has saved a large number of childrens' lives[http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673604159072/abstract]. Attaran also started the international campaign, which involved hundreds of scientists and Nobel laureates, to restore the indoors use of DDT in malaria control, and is credited with drafting the compromise in the Stockholm Convention which prohibited the ecotoxic use of DDT in agriculture, but allowed the life-saving use of DDT in public health [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=10888909&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum]. 
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==Attaran's Human Rights Advocacy==
  
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Interestingly, in both the artemisinin combination therapy and the DDT cases, the WHO and other UN agencies now agree with Attaran and have come out in suppport of these tools being used. These and other successful campaigns to raise the standard of care for poor people in the world led the science journal Nature Medicine in 2006 to describe Attaran as "a master at bringing global health agencies to task"[http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060724/pf/nm0806-872_pf.html].  
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Attaran has backed international prosecutions to end the crimes against humanity perpetuated by the regime in [[Zimbabwe]].<ref>Stephanie Nolan, "[http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/universal/2004/1105mugabe.htm Can Ottawa Act Against Mugabe?]", ''Globe and Mail'', November 5, 2004.</ref> In 2006 he criticized Canada's military for failing to protect the rights of detainees they arrested during their mission in [[Afghanistan]] and that prisoners had been transferred to the custody of Afghan security officials known by the Canadian government to be involved in torture.<ref>Amir Attaran, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20060516034300/http://www.polarisinstitute.org/pdf/Attaran_7_April_2006.pdf  Re: Arrangement for the Transfer of Detainees between the Canadian Forces and the Ministry of Defence of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – Effect of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]", April 7, 2006. (This is an unaddressed legal review of the issue).</ref><ref>Murray Brewster, "[http://www.thestar.com/News/article/215164 Political coverup alleged on Afghan report]", ''Canadian Press'', May 17, 2007. </ref>
  
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Dr. Attaran is also a forceful human rights advocate, having called for international prosecutions to end the crimes against humanity perpetuated by the regime in Zimbabwe[http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/universal/2004/1105mugabe.htm], and recently having joined with NGOs to criticize Canada's military for failing to protect the rights of detainees they arrest during their mission in Afghanistan, including to expose those detainees to the risk of torture or transfer to Guantanamo Bay [http://www.polarisinstitute.org/pdf/Attaran_7_April_2006.pdf#search=%22attaran%20afghanistan%20koring%22].  
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==Affiliations==
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* 1998-99: Director, Malaria Project, [[Center for Study of Responsive Law]], Washington D.C. <ref> Amir Attaran, "[http://www.malaria.org/ddtcover_english.html  120 Countries Are Meeting To Ban DDT For Malaria Control: Your Input is Urgently Needed]", March 29, 1999. </ref>
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* 1999: Consultant, [[Medecins Sans Frontieres]]
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* 1998-2000: Staff Lawyer, [[Sierra Legal Defence Fund]], Vancounver, Canada;
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* 2000-03: Research Fellow and Adjunct Lecturer, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University;
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* 2003 - 2005: Lecturer, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University. <ref>"[http://web.archive.org/web/20050411095754/http://www.riia.org/index.php?id=20&eid=114 Dr Amir Attaran]", Royal Institute of International Affairs, webarchive from April 2005. </ref>
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* 2003: Fellow at Africa Fighting Malaria Foundation;
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* 2003-2005: Associate Fellow of the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]], London; <ref>Amir Attaran, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0DE6DF143DF936A1575AC0A9659C8B63 Malaria, The Terrorists Friend]", New York Times, September 25, 2003.</ref>
  
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Dr. Attaran has been a paid consultant to NGOs (e.g. Doctors Without Borders), the United Nations (e.g. the UNDP), the pharmaceutical industry (e.g. [[Novartis]]), and an unpaid consultant when requested by various developing country governments (e.g. Brazil, Malawi) and human rights groups (e.g. Amnesty International).
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==Book==
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* Dr Amir Attaran (ed) & Professor [[Brigitte Granville]] (ed), ''Delivering Essential Medicines: The Way Forward'', Chatham House , November 2004 ISBN: 1 86203 149 5 (paperback) 1 86203 150 9 (hardback)
  
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He is currently Associate Professor of Law and Population Health, and the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa, Canada.  Previously he was an adjunct lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University, publishing research as part of the Center for International Development and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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==References==
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<references/>
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== External links ==
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===Biographical and Research Interests Notes===
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*Royal Institute of International Affairs, [http://web.archive.org/web/20050411095754/http://www.riia.org/index.php?id=20&eid=114 Dr Amir Attaran], biography, web archive from April 2005.
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*"[http://www.chairs.gc.ca/web/chairholders/viewprofile_e.asp?id=1779 Amir Attaran: Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health, and Global Development Policy]", Canada Research, accessed June 2007.
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===Articles By Attaran===
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* P. Champ and A. Attaran, "Patent Rights and Local Working under the WTO TRIPS Agreement: An Analysis of the U.S.-Brazil patent dispute?" ''Yale International Law Journal'', Volume 365, Number 27, 2002.
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* M. Friedman, H. den Besten, A. Attaran, "Out-licensing: a practical approach to improving access to medicines in poor countries?", ''The Lancet'', Volume 361,  2003, pp. 341-344.
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*Amir Attaran, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0DE6DF143DF936A1575AC0A9659C8B63 Malaria, The Terrorists Friend]", ''New York Times'', September 25, 2003.
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* V. Narasimhan and A. Attaran, Roll Back, Malaria? The scarcity of international aid for malaria control? ''The Malaria Journal'' 2:8, 2003.
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* A. Attaran, "Assessing and answering paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration: the case for greater flexibility and a non-justiciability solution?", ''Emory International Law Review'', 2003.
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*Amir Attaran, Karen I Barnes, Christopher Curtis, Umberto d’Alessandro, Caterina I Fanello, Mary R Galinski,Gilbert Kokwaro, Sornchai Looareesuwan, Michael Makanga, Theonest K Mutabingwa, Ambrose Talisuna, Jean François Trape, William M Watkins, "[http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/viewdocument.php?documentid=4839 WHO, the Global Fund, and medical malpractice in malaria treatment]", ''The Lancet'', Volume 363, January 17, 2004.
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* Amir Attaran, "[http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/viewdocument.php?documentid=4842 Where did it all go wrong?]", ''Nature'', Volume 430, August 19, 2004.
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*Amir Attaran and Roger Bate, "[http://www.fightingmalaria.org/news.aspx?id=183 India's Deadly Lies]", [[Tech Central Station]], February 15, 2005.
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* Amir Attaran and Roger Bate, "[http://www.examiner.com/a-112758~Amir_Attaran_and_Roger_Bate__Sick_at_the_World_Bank.html Sick at the World Bank]", ''The Examiner'', May 19, 2005.
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*Amir Attaran, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/opinion/13attaran.html?ex=1284264000&en=fbccd9df4b41ccf1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Necessary Measures]", ''New York Times'', September 13, 2005.
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*Amir Attaran, "[http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020318 An immeasurable crisis? A criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and why they cannot be measured]", ''PLoS Medicine'',  September 13, 2005.
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===Congressional Testimony===
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*May 12, 2005: Amir Attaran and [[Roger Bate]] to US Senate Hearing on [[USAID]]’s malaria control operations
  
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He is a board member of [[Africa Fighting Malaria]], a group funded in part by the [[American Enterprise Institute]]. He has been a vocal critic against the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders in its campaign information on drug patents and medicine access, but has also worked together with them to advance other issues such as the right of malaria patients to artemisinin combination therapy, a cause that MSF strongly supports [http://www.accessmed.msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=3042004149512&contenttype=PARA&].  
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===Conference Presentations===
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*Dr Amir Attaran, Centre for International Development, Harvard University, Sir [[Richard Sykes]] DSc FRS, Chairman, [[GlaxoSmithKline]] plc, Dr Beatrice Wabudeya, Minister of State for Health, [[Uganda]], ''[https://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/index.php?id=213&cid=10&type=conf The Pharmaceutical Industry: Squaring the Circle. Shareholder Value and Corporate Social Responsibility]'',Conference Proceedings, March 14, 2002. (Proceedings only available for purchase £295 and audio of conference only available to members).
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* American Enterprise Institute (Washington DC), The Real Obstacles to treating Malaria, AIDS and TB in Developing Countries, 12 May 2004. Presentations from Prof. Don Roberts, Prof. Amir Attaran, Richard Tren & Roger Bate.
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* National Academies of Science Conference on DDT, Washington DC, Presentations by both Prof. [[Don Roberts]] & Prof. Amir Attaran, 21 July 2004
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* [[Richard Tren]] and Amir Attaran, World Health Organization AFRO Southern Africa Malaria Control Conference, Gaborone, [[Botswana]], 22 July 2004
  
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==References==
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===General Articles===
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*Royal Institute of International Affairs, [http://www.riia.org/index.php?id=20&eid=114 Dr Amir Attaran], biography, accessed February 2004.
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*Alvin Powell, "[http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=310 Effect of patents pending: Attaran: Drug patents not crucial in AIDS fight]", Harvard University Gazette, October 18, 2001.
 
*[http://www.thebody.com/tag/nov01/patent_politics.html Patent Politics], ''TAGline'', Volume 8, Issue 9, November 2001.
 
*[http://www.thebody.com/tag/nov01/patent_politics.html Patent Politics], ''TAGline'', Volume 8, Issue 9, November 2001.
 
*[http://www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=2812003950572&contenttype=PARA& AIDS Activists Laud Pharmacia Plan for Generic Manufacturing]", Dow Jones International: January 24, 2003.
 
*[http://www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=2812003950572&contenttype=PARA& AIDS Activists Laud Pharmacia Plan for Generic Manufacturing]", Dow Jones International: January 24, 2003.
 
*[[Consumer Project on Technology]], [http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/pharmadefenders.html Big Pharma's favorite academics and opinion makers], accessed February 2004.
 
*[[Consumer Project on Technology]], [http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/pharmadefenders.html Big Pharma's favorite academics and opinion makers], accessed February 2004.
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* Steve Sternberg,, "[http://www.accessmed.msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=3042004149512&contenttype=PARA& The troubling fight against old killer]", ''USA Today'', April 29, 2004.
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*Roger Bate, "[http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bate200405171342.asp What Patent Problem?: Dr. Amir Attaran asks — and answers — the question]", ''National Review Online'', May 17, 2004.
 
*A Critique of Amir Attaran's claims about patents and medicine access, [http://www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=171020011428553&contenttype=PARA&], [http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/eletters/23/3/155], [http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/africa/dopatentsmatterinafrica.html].
 
*A Critique of Amir Attaran's claims about patents and medicine access, [http://www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=171020011428553&contenttype=PARA&], [http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/eletters/23/3/155], [http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/africa/dopatentsmatterinafrica.html].
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*John W. McArthur, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Guido Schmidt-Traub1, "[http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020379#JOURNAL-PMED-0020379-B1 Response to Amir Attaran]", PLoS Medicine,  November 29, 2005.
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* Tim Lambert, "[http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/05/lancet_study_is_wrong.php Lancet study is wrong]", ''Deltoid'', May 17, 2006.
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* Tim Lambert, "[http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/05/philip_musgrove_rebuts_attaran.php Philip Musgrove rebuts Attaran]", ''Deltoid'', May 22, 2006.
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* Tim Lambert, "[http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/05/attaran_at_it_again.php Attaran at it again]", ''Deltoid'', May 27, 2006. (This post also includes several responses from Attaran).
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*Erika Check, "[http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060724/pf/nm0806-872_pf.html Profile: Amir Attaran]" ''Nature Medicine'', July 27, 2006.
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[[category:Health]][[Category:Environment]][[Category:International]][[Category:Canada]]

Latest revision as of 16:21, 19 July 2010

Dr. Amir Attaran is a lawyer who writes on public health and global development issues. He is a member of Africa Fighting Malaria's advisory board, a group funded in part by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

A 2005 biographical note states that he is Associate Professor of Law and Population Health, and the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa, Canada. It also states that prior to this he was an adjunct lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University, publishing research as part of the Center for International Development and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. "He has also advised and collaborated with numerous NGOs, UN agencies, governments, and corporations on aspects of international development, primarily in the area of public health," the biographical note states. [1]

Attaran's Human Rights Advocacy

Attaran has backed international prosecutions to end the crimes against humanity perpetuated by the regime in Zimbabwe.[2] In 2006 he criticized Canada's military for failing to protect the rights of detainees they arrested during their mission in Afghanistan and that prisoners had been transferred to the custody of Afghan security officials known by the Canadian government to be involved in torture.[3][4]

Affiliations

Book

  • Dr Amir Attaran (ed) & Professor Brigitte Granville (ed), Delivering Essential Medicines: The Way Forward, Chatham House , November 2004 ISBN: 1 86203 149 5 (paperback) 1 86203 150 9 (hardback)

References

  1. ↑ "African Health and Development: Are the Millennium Development Goals Helpful?:Speaker Biographies", American Enterprise Institute, September 12, 2005.
  2. ↑ Stephanie Nolan, "Can Ottawa Act Against Mugabe?", Globe and Mail, November 5, 2004.
  3. ↑ Amir Attaran, "Re: Arrangement for the Transfer of Detainees between the Canadian Forces and the Ministry of Defence of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – Effect of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms", April 7, 2006. (This is an unaddressed legal review of the issue).
  4. ↑ Murray Brewster, "Political coverup alleged on Afghan report", Canadian Press, May 17, 2007.
  5. ↑ Amir Attaran, "120 Countries Are Meeting To Ban DDT For Malaria Control: Your Input is Urgently Needed", March 29, 1999.
  6. ↑ "Dr Amir Attaran", Royal Institute of International Affairs, webarchive from April 2005.
  7. ↑ Amir Attaran, "Malaria, The Terrorists Friend", New York Times, September 25, 2003.

External links

Biographical and Research Interests Notes

Articles By Attaran

  • P. Champ and A. Attaran, "Patent Rights and Local Working under the WTO TRIPS Agreement: An Analysis of the U.S.-Brazil patent dispute?" Yale International Law Journal, Volume 365, Number 27, 2002.
  • M. Friedman, H. den Besten, A. Attaran, "Out-licensing: a practical approach to improving access to medicines in poor countries?", The Lancet, Volume 361, 2003, pp. 341-344.
  • Amir Attaran, "Malaria, The Terrorists Friend", New York Times, September 25, 2003.
  • V. Narasimhan and A. Attaran, Roll Back, Malaria? The scarcity of international aid for malaria control? The Malaria Journal 2:8, 2003.
  • A. Attaran, "Assessing and answering paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration: the case for greater flexibility and a non-justiciability solution?", Emory International Law Review, 2003.
  • Amir Attaran, Karen I Barnes, Christopher Curtis, Umberto d’Alessandro, Caterina I Fanello, Mary R Galinski,Gilbert Kokwaro, Sornchai Looareesuwan, Michael Makanga, Theonest K Mutabingwa, Ambrose Talisuna, Jean François Trape, William M Watkins, "WHO, the Global Fund, and medical malpractice in malaria treatment", The Lancet, Volume 363, January 17, 2004.
  • Amir Attaran, "Where did it all go wrong?", Nature, Volume 430, August 19, 2004.
  • Amir Attaran and Roger Bate, "India's Deadly Lies", Tech Central Station, February 15, 2005.
  • Amir Attaran and Roger Bate, "Sick at the World Bank", The Examiner, May 19, 2005.
  • Amir Attaran, "Necessary Measures", New York Times, September 13, 2005.
  • Amir Attaran, "An immeasurable crisis? A criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and why they cannot be measured", PLoS Medicine, September 13, 2005.

Congressional Testimony

  • May 12, 2005: Amir Attaran and Roger Bate to US Senate Hearing on USAID’s malaria control operations

Conference Presentations

  • Dr Amir Attaran, Centre for International Development, Harvard University, Sir Richard Sykes DSc FRS, Chairman, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Dr Beatrice Wabudeya, Minister of State for Health, Uganda, The Pharmaceutical Industry: Squaring the Circle. Shareholder Value and Corporate Social Responsibility,Conference Proceedings, March 14, 2002. (Proceedings only available for purchase £295 and audio of conference only available to members).
  • American Enterprise Institute (Washington DC), The Real Obstacles to treating Malaria, AIDS and TB in Developing Countries, 12 May 2004. Presentations from Prof. Don Roberts, Prof. Amir Attaran, Richard Tren & Roger Bate.
  • National Academies of Science Conference on DDT, Washington DC, Presentations by both Prof. Don Roberts & Prof. Amir Attaran, 21 July 2004
  • Richard Tren and Amir Attaran, World Health Organization AFRO Southern Africa Malaria Control Conference, Gaborone, Botswana, 22 July 2004

General Articles

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