E-DRUG: Open Letter on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property
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dear e-Druggers,
On Monday, 18 May 2009, on the first day of the 62nd session of the
World Health Assembly (WHA), seven nongovernmental organizations sent
a letter to WHO Member States on the outstanding components of the
Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property,
contained in resolution WHA 61.21.
We copy the letter below.
LETTER:
May 18, 2009
Open Letter to WHO Member States on outstanding components of Plan of
Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property
Dear WHO Member States,
During the 2008 World Heath Assembly WHO Member States reached
unanimous consensus on resolution WHA 61.21 that adopted a Global
Strategy and unfinished Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation
and Intellectual property.
The outstanding components of the Plan of Action should be finalized
at the 62nd session of the World Health Assembly. WHO Member States
will have to take important decisions concerning the stakeholders,
time frames, progress indicators and funding needs.
Document A62/16 contains a report outlining the progress accomplished
to date. Further work is needed. Specific actions are necessary from
WHO and Member States to proactively implement the Global Strategy and
Plan of Action. The Quick Start Programme lists a number of activities
that WHO - irrespective of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action - is
already implementing in existing work plans. It is important to see
what new and additional activities WHO is planning.
Document A62/16 Add.2 contains the proposed progress indicators.
Further work needs to be done on this issue also. For example, the
indicators proposed are quantitative, when qualitative indicators are
also required. It's not just the number of indicators or the process
that needs to be measured, it is the effect and the impact of these
policy measures on public health. It is important that Members States
contribute to the definition of such outputs measures at a national
and regional level and that WHO is required, when it reports back on
implementation, to include the results of such output measures.
We also call your attention on the document A62/16 Add.3 where the
results of informal consultations among some Member States on
stakeholders are presented. We are surprised that WHO has been removed
as stakeholder in action 2.3(c) that "encourages further exploratory
discussions in the utility of possible instruments or mechanisms for
essential health and biomedical R&D, including inter alia, an
essential health and biomedical R&D treaty."
We are now more than seven years after the 2001 WTO Doha Declaration
on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, and in the middle of a
number of public health crises regarding both innovation and access to
essential health technologies. We are facing our third recent alert
for a new public health pandemic. There is a clear need for a
discussion on what global norms for biomedical research and
development are necessary. The WHO is the UN agency with the global
mandate for health. It unacceptable that there would be any opposition
to the WHO having a role in taking forward discussions on what global
norms should be contained in a proposal for a biomedical R&D treaty.
Resolution WHA 61.21 is a result of a member driven process with
active civil society engagement; however, the transparency of the
decision making process that has allocated stakeholder responsibility
falls short of a contributory democratic process. It would be against
the spirit of WHA 61.21 if a narrow interpretation of the role of
stakeholders which would exclude civil society was adopted.
The Global Strategy and Plan of Action is a unique document that has
the potential to address public health needs with respect to
innovation and access. We urge Member States, when finalizing the Plan
of Action, to ensure that WHO is given an adequate mandate to advance
this strategy. This will require that WHO adopts new approaches and
has the ability to explore new ideas.
Sincerely
Essential Action
Health Action International
Health Gap
Knowledge Ecology International
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Oxfam International
Third World Network