E-DRUG: NGOs support strong mandate for WHO
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Geneva, 16 May 1999
1999 WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY
NGOs support strong mandate for World Health Organization to ensure health
is a priority in trade issues
Geneva, 17-25 May: Delegates from the 191 World Health Organization (WHO)
Member States will meet at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. At the
Assembly, they will discuss the issue of access to medicines and consider a
resolution with far reaching implications for the health of people in the
developing world.
The resolution, on the Revised Drug Strategy, will provide a clear role for
the WHO to monitor the consequences of international trade agreements for
public health. It also gives the WHO a mandate to assist countries in
their efforts to safeguard public health while implementing these
agreements. The WHO Revised Drug Strategy was ratified in 1986 and was
designed to ensure equitable access to quality, essential drugs and to
promote their rational use.
"We are very concerned about the growing number of lives at risk because of
unequal access to medicines," said Dr. Bernard Pecoul of Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) "MSF, together with Health Action International and The
Consumer Project on Technology wholeheartedly support the passage of the
resolution on the Revised Drug Strategy that will be considered by the
World Health Assembly this week. We believe that the resolution helps to
address the negative consequences of trade agreements on access to
medicines."
The resolution already has the support of the 59 member states that took
part in the drafting of the resolution, with input from the World Trade
Organization, international consumer groups, international non-governmental
organizations, and the pharmaceutical industry.
The revised resolution clearly emphasizes that "public health interests are
paramount in pharmaceutical and health policies" and addresses "the impact
of relevant international agreements, including trade agreements, on local
manufacturing capacity and on access to and prices of pharmaceuticals in
developing and least developed countries."
Specific concerns about the implications of trade agreements on access to
medicines relate to the new global system of regulations on intellectual
property contained in the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property)
agreement, part of the new international trade system administered by the
World Trade Organization.
Intellectual property is an important mechanism for stimulating research
and development, but MSF, Health Action International and the Consumer
Project on Technology do not consider that these rights should be absolute,
especially when a large part of the world's population does not have access
to life-saving essential drugs. "What is the use of having new, effective
essential drugs if most people do not have access to them?" says Ellen 't
Hoen head of the HAI team present this week at the WHA.
"Africa is facing a mind boggling crisis and the world community needs to
respond. We need to embrace global rules for sharing the burdens of
essential medical research and development that explicitly facilitate
equitable access to new scientific discoveries. The World Health Assembly
is showing needed leadership on this issue," says James Love director of
Consumer Project on Technology.