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Canada has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, with an average life span of 81.48 years, while countries like Lesotho have an average life expectancy of 51.86 years. The huge life expectancy disparities between developed and developing nations are correlated with access to healthcare and the presence of disease. Many developing countries suffer from high degrees of political instability and increased rates of HIV/AIDS infections. The average per capita spending on pharmaceuticals in developed nations is 100 times higher than in developing nations. The World Health Organization estimates that increasing access to pharmaceuticals could save up to 10 million lives annually.

Access to medicine is severely limited by national and international policies, rules, and institutions, including trade laws and intellectual property rights. Patents are the primary means of affecting the affordability of drugs and access to medicine. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, established in 1994, raised concerns about access to affordable drugs and public health implications for middle- and low-income countries.

The Doha Declaration, released in 2001, affirmed the priority of public health over patent status, but its effectiveness is debated. Compulsory licenses, which allow countries to manufacture generic copies of drugs without the consent of the patent owner, are rarely used and subject to strict conditions. Generic drugs are far more accessible than brand-name counterparts, making them ideal for developing countries. However, the use of generic drugs is often discouraged by corporate and governmental threats of legal or economic sanctions.