#time for five

[humongousfurybeard]

Join the fight. Find out what you can do at tbfighters.org

[firefly-fez]

[clarejgold]

Stuff

Here are the Tests

I don’t want this to sound like a complaint, but people could not stop telling us about their stuff. Every lab tech and pharmacist. Every community and social worker. I am not a medical professional and half of these things were just words that I didn’t understand, but my goodness were they happy about the stuff they’ve got. 

One way to look at that is to assume it’s because people wanted to let me know that donor money is well spent. There are probably donors out there who need and want that reassurance, perhaps because they’ve had bad experiences in the past or their unconscious bias is telling them they need to check up on any resources shared with poor people.

There is however one form of stuff that I was and remain interested in and that’s the multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) tests and the machine that uses them. Some readers of this will be well aware of the #TimeFor5 campaign to get the cost of these tests reduced to $5 per test from $15 per test, which is, depending on whom you ask, somewhere between a 300%-500% profit . 

These tests are the difference between following a treatment plan that will cure your TB and one that can ravage your body while the TB you have is still killing you. Over a million and half people needlessly die from TB every year solely because of lack of access to the right tests and medication. By ‘access’ I don’t mean transportation or the ability of a medical facility to handle the tests nor do I mean that not enough tests exist. The resources physically exist. They simply aren’t available to everyone who needs them because a pharmaceutical company decided that the poor people of the world were the right folks to squeeze knowing they don't have many voices to fight for them.

If you don’t know about it, it’s because most of your exposure, no pun intended, to TB as an illness probably comes from historical fiction and you, like many, think of TB as a disease of the past and/or something that affects only a small handful of people in tiny, isolated places. Let me point out that a ‘population’ of 1.6 million dead is far from small and that the vast majority of cases occur within a day’s transport of an international airport. 

The most recent successes in getting test and drug prices reduced have come from social pressure in the form of tweets, letters to representatives, and direct contact with the companies themselves to let them know that gross profiteering off the lives of vulnerable people is unacceptable. See the TBFighters for more information or look to Doctors without Borders or PIH .

[mathsjokesdistractme]

Your Choice Danaher

[audible-smiles]

So: starting tomorrow, there's a coordinated pressure campaign to get Danaher, the giant company that makes diagnostic test cartridges for tuberculosis and other diseases of poverty, to lower their prices. This would increase access to testing and help prevent a great deal of suffering and death around the world. The campaign has already seen some success (Danaher agreed to lower the price of one particular TB cartridge, just not far enough, and not all of them), so we are ramping things up over the next few weeks. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to be as annoying as possible (without being abusive to the staff you directly interface with, who don't have any decision-making power). The goal is for the bad publicity and criticism to become an overwhelming liability for the company.

Above is a list of various actions you can take over the next 3 days.

Here is a link to the social media accounts of all Danaher-owned companies and another page with the company's e-mail, e-mail templates, phone number, and more

Here is a library of social media graphics you can use

Here is a petition for you to sign

And here is a goofy-ass meme template featuring Pantone (a Danaher subsidiary) and their "color of the year" thing

[skyromm]

the memes about this whole situation are glorious

I haven't seen this one yet.

[blueisasome]

As recently seen with mole interest, one viral Tumblr post can make a tag trend, and I'm hoping to bring that energy to the current Time for Five campaign. So first, an explanation of what exactly that is.

So if reading all that fills you with as much rage as it did for me you're hopefully asking yourself how you can help.

Currently bringing awareness to the issue is the main priority of the campaign, Danaher is not a well known company outside of the medical profession. We want them to be well known for all the wrong reasons, and pressure them into doing the right thing.

Here are some links with information about how you can help, and please reblog this post, and others in the #time for five and #people over profits tags, to spread the word!

[tododeku-or-bust]

Shout out to all the Black ppl that can no longer participate directly in the fandom they love because of the stresses of racism 👍🏾 you contain multitudes of value and I'm sorry that the color of your skin and the power of your voice makes people not want to acknowledge that.

[humongousfurybeard]

John the fight. Find out what you can do at tbfighters.org

[firefly-fez]

Swifties, are you Ready For It? Speak Now and tell Danaher that their inflated prices are Treacherous to the global health system!

To tell a Long Story Short, there's a Gold Rush on Danaher's GeneXpert tests. These tests are used to quickly and accurately diagnose a range of diseases, including HIV, TB, Ebola and more. The technology is a Superstar but it Hits Different when you learn they're sold at a 300% markup. Are you seeing Red yet?

Visit TB fighters to learn more!

[ineffablelyobssesed]

hey y’all! if you can spare about four minutes to try and make the world a bit nicer, go for it!

Please sign this petition to tell @DanaherCorp that their test prices are too much. Why should someone have to spend ALL their money just to get a test? Medicine should not be a luxury. #TimeFor5 #PeopleOverProfits

[atalana]

the curse of adhd:

i will remember with absolute clarity, when the thought strikes me that i have a text to send someone, that this is the fourth time in three days i've attempted to send this specific text

i will forget, in the time it takes me to pick up my phone, that i picked it up intending to send a text

[butchdykekondraki]

once again thinking about the solid snake panty lines tweet

[chloesimaginationthings]

Everyone loves FNAF music man.. even Michael

[ruushes]

i'm sure there's a canon timeline but dao is a springtime game to me

[reinanova]

bcuz i’m curious:

any phone number that you could rattle off without looking counts here

reblog with your age/generation bcuz i’m curious if it’s still common practice for younger people to memorize phone numbers