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The third world will not be a significant player in the free market game for a looooong time. As such they will not be able to play according to succesfully play the free market game for a looooong time, which also means that they won't be able to buy those western medicines for a loooooong time. Really according to the whole free market theory, why would somebody ever sell to the third world. There really is hardly any possibility to make any money from Africa.
I'm frankly appalled at the whole "let them die, if they can't pay" sentiment on display in this thread. I can deal with the whole anti file sharing sentiment that bows down to the billions dollar digital content industry instead of the common good, but seriously this I can't stomach.
People are dying by the thousands in Africa. And since there is no money to be made from Africa anyway, why should they not get the medicine for a fair price? Capitalism and the free market isn't infallible. Intellectual property isn't some dogma that needs to be upheld even when it means the death of thousands of people that can't play along in the game of capitalism.
This is why I don't believe in intellectual property. It's not just a stupid concept that the rich invented not so long ago, it is also a concept that kills people.
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