When I read through Little L's diary entry, I felt surprised from the perspective the text provides. Indeed, poor countries can't afford as good a deal as their richer counterparts, but something else come to mind. Many poorer countries copy (under licence or not) western medicine and sell it under a similar name.

An example - some months ago I had to buy an antibiotic. The lady pharmacist pointed out that I have three options for the same drug (she stressed they are basically the same, but produced in different countries).

The American version was 27 leva (1 euro = 2 leva), the German version was 12 leva and the Bulgarian version was 1.70 leva.

So is the situation so grim? Probably, yes, but only for specialized medicine (for example the Tamiflu vaccine, which I want to point out doesn't actually protect you from the H5N1 strand, but does include vaccine for two of the H5 variations).

Be careful! Is it classified?