Responsibility – In Public Health 127gent definition of catastrophe and points to firms that possess ‘unique
competencies’ for rescue. His position might be narrower than mine, as
he attributes obligations only to very specific pharmaceutical firms due
to the ‘uniqueness competency’ criterion. However, we are both propos-
ing a similar trend. Dunfee makes a case for some specific big pharma-
ceutical corporations in the Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS catastrophe, but I
believe his arguments are easily applicable to some of the situations
depicted earlier.
Hence, within this framework, not only should the usual ideal agents
be responsible, but transnational and pharmaceutical corporations should
also be committed to the improvement of health, for example by devel-
oping better health habits among their employees, promoting pro-health
policies through their advertising strategies, supporting local hospitals or
local efforts to provide better access to health, using their resources
(their fleet of trucks and logistics) to distribute medicines or other health
devices,^109 and so on. Therefore, from a non-ideal perspective, pharma-
ceutical companies and even transnational corporations can be held re-
sponsible.
8.3 Is It Feasible? A Case
If a plurality of responsible agents can address different needs, a dy-
namic and flexible answer will be obtained. It is not just one agent but a
multiplicity of them with different and appropriate levels of responsibili-
ties.^110 Each of them can reinforce the other’s action.
their industry’s average or the national average.’ Dunfee, ‘Firms with Unique
Competencies’ (n 106) 185. 109
Coca Cola has delivered AIDS testing kits to hospitals in Nigeria, billboards
for awareness campaigns in Kenya. Dunfee, ‘Firms with Unique Competencies’
(n 106) 189.
304 110
How to decide levels of responsibilities in this case is a relevant and im-
portant issue but goes beyond the scope of this chapter.