North Canterbury News: January 16, 2020
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Coffin used in deadly serious campaign<br />
By ROBYN BRISTOW<br />
Acoffin willbetowedthrough<br />
<strong>North</strong><strong>Canterbury</strong> this week in a<br />
campaignaimedatpersuading<br />
theGovernmenttoincrease<br />
funding for the drugagency<br />
Pharmac.<br />
Dunedincouple Camilla and<br />
JulianCox are on a1200<br />
kilometre tandem cycle ride from<br />
theirhomecitytoWellington.<br />
They alsohaveaskeleton<br />
namedHope, seatedbehind them<br />
in achild’sseat,intheir<br />
endeavours to get more moneyfor<br />
theagency.<br />
Pharmacdecides which<br />
medicinesand pharmaceutical<br />
products are subsidisedfor use in<br />
thecommunityand public<br />
hospitals.The coffin andskeleton<br />
‘‘represent Kiwiswho are dying<br />
because they don’t have access to<br />
lifesavingmedicines,’’ Julian<br />
says.<br />
Thecouple wanttoraise<br />
awareness forapetition andare<br />
collecting signatures duringtheir<br />
18day ride throughthe South<br />
Island and on to Parliament<br />
Buildings.<br />
Thepetition, organised by<br />
Patient Voice Aotearoa,asks<br />
parliament to urge the health<br />
minister to conduct external<br />
reformofPharmac andtodouble<br />
itsbudget immediately,with a<br />
plan to triple the budget within<br />
twoyears.<br />
Thepetitionisaiming for<br />
250,000signaturesand canbe<br />
viewed andsignedvia the website<br />
rip.kiwi.<br />
TheCoxeswill be in Amberley<br />
today. Theywill alsostop in<br />
Cheviot overnight on Friday, and<br />
KaikouraonSaturday.<br />
From Kaikoura,the ridewill<br />
take themupthe coast to Picton,<br />
wheretheir bikeand coffin will<br />
be transportedbyferry to<br />
Wellington.<br />
Thecampaignisdoubly<br />
important to the Coxfamily<br />
because their19yearold<br />
daughter Rachael hascystic<br />
fibrosis.<br />
‘‘Newlifesaving and lifechangingmedicationsare<br />
now<br />
availablefor cystic fibrosis but we<br />
can’t accessthem in New<br />
Zealand, despite these medicines<br />
being fundedincountrieslike<br />
Australiaand Britain,’’ Mr Cox<br />
says.<br />
‘‘Pharmac hasagreed to fundat<br />
least oneofthese treatments,<br />
Kalydeco, with ‘low priority’. This<br />
effectively means Kalydeco will<br />
never be funded.<br />
‘‘Pharmacunderstandsthat it<br />
NEWS<br />
<strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>January</strong> <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2020</strong><br />
On the move ...<br />
Dunedin couple<br />
Camilla and<br />
Julian Cox are<br />
pedalling north in<br />
acampaign to<br />
boost Pharmac<br />
funding.<br />
PHOTO: SUPPLIED<br />
makes economic sense to fundthe<br />
medicine buttheywill only fund it<br />
if they can ‘afford to’.’’<br />
Mr Coxsays the Government<br />
needs to spend an adequate<br />
amount on medicationsand<br />
doublePharmac’s budget.<br />
‘‘Between 2007and 2018 the<br />
New Zealand medicines budget<br />
shrank in realtermsby0.3%.<br />
‘‘New Zealandranks lastout of<br />
20 OECD countriesfor market<br />
access to modernmedicines.’’<br />
19<br />
Quake<br />
lessons<br />
shared<br />
Waimakariri’s earthquake<br />
recoverylessons have been<br />
shared with Nepali<br />
officials.<br />
Mayor Dan Gordon<br />
recently hostedNepali<br />
earthquake reconstruction<br />
officials as part of atwoweek<br />
European Unionfunded<br />
study tour to New<br />
Zealand.<br />
The 19strongdelegation<br />
from the NepaliNational<br />
Reconstruction Authority,<br />
government officials and<br />
representatives from<br />
Kathmandu city met with<br />
agencies in Wellington,<br />
Kaikouraand <strong>Canterbury</strong>.<br />
The visit followed<br />
Nepal’s 7.8magnitude<br />
earthquake in April 2015,<br />
in which 8790 people lost<br />
their lives, 22,300 were<br />
injured and 800,000 were<br />
displaced.<br />
‘‘It was an opportunity<br />
for the delegation to find<br />
out how we all responded<br />
and they were particularly<br />
interested in our<br />
governance structure and<br />
how we all worked<br />
togetherinthat space,’’ Mr<br />
Gordon said.<br />
‘‘It was interesting sitting<br />
back listening to the<br />
presentations, becauseyou<br />
forget how much we have<br />
actually achieved.’’<br />
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