Help Human Rights Watch Bring the Issue of Pain Relief to Audiences in Mexico Human Rights Watch
go to original May 5, 2014

Kickstart our Video Project on Pain Relief (HumanRightsWatch)

Follow the journey through rural Mexico that thousands of people take in search of relief from intolerable pain.

This is our project:

Imagine you are experiencing the worst pain of your life. Now imagine that the only way to get the pain medication you need is to travel several hours on a rickety public bus, while you are in agony.

That’s the reality for thousands of people every year in Mexico. But this suffering is unnecessary – and our video will help create momentum for change.

Because of restrictive drug laws, it is incredibly complicated to obtain pain medicines like morphine in Mexico. Outside of the major cities there are almost no doctors that prescribe them or pharmacies where patients can fill prescriptions for these pain killers. As a result, thousands of people who are dying of diseases like cancer and HIV/AIDS often cannot get access to essential pain relief.

Morphine is cheap, effective, and endorsed by the World Health Organization as an essential medicine. Yet it remains unavailable to so many people in Mexico who desperately need it.

We'd like to bring this issue to life for audiences in Mexico and around the world. We want to show you the faces and stories of the people who endure this needless suffering. We want our video to take you inside the lives of their families, introduce you to their doctors, and present the activists who are trying to change the law in Mexico.

You can back this project on Kickstarter

Why we’re capable of doing this:

We haven't shot any footage in Mexico yet, and we won't be able to do so until we raise the money on Kickstarter. But we have made this video about pain relief in India:



It contributed to a campaign that changed the law on pain medications in India, potentially ending the suffering of tens of millions of people.

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