E-drug: Partners' countries call for essential commodities security
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MEDIA RELEASE
Partners' countries call for essential commodities security
18 April 2001, Dhaka, Bangladesh:
Partners in Population and Development (Partners), the sixteen member
alliance of developing countries, has called on the South to protect its
right to essential, high quality drugs at the lowest possible cost.
Following today's resumption in legal proceedings over the South Africa
Medicines Act, Partners' Executive Director, Mr Balla Silla, reaffirmed the
member countries' commitment to accessible health care.
"Delays in enabling those affected to access treatments for HIV/AIDS will
inevitably lead to more deaths and an exacerbation of the problem", said Mr
Silla. "Partners sees access to health care as a human right, and the
member countries agree that it is the responsibility of states to protect,
promote and enhance this right."
The sixteen countries in Partners contain over fifty percent of the world's
population and thirty percent of the world's 36.2 million HIV/AIDS cases.
Currently, Partners members include Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Egypt, The
Gambia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Thailand,
Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Meeting in Beijing last November, Ministers of Health and high level
officials from Partners countries called upon pharmaceutical agencies in
their countries to consider production of quality commodities at affordable
rates. They also pledged to reduce the cost of commodities and drugs
through bulk purchasing.
"[We] note those aspects of international trade agreements, WTO limitations
and TRIPS restrictions which may adversely affect developing countries'
access to essential drugs and commodities for reproductive health", notes
the declaration from the Beijing meeting. "Countries of the South are
called on to protect their ... capacity to provide
essential drugs and commodities at the lowest possible cost. This ...
includes rights to parallel importation, compulsory licensing and local
manufacture of essential drugs and commodities."
In response to the commodity supply crisis, Partners is moving to promote
sustainable policy solutions. "Single-disease drug donations and
disease-specific programs are unsustainable and, at times, tokenistic",
said Mr Silla. "Real progress in health and development will depend on
investment in health and education sector infrastructure. Essential drugs
policies must respond to the long-term needs of developing countries."
A number of policy options are being explored by Partners members,
including encouraging commodities research and development in developing
countries, expanding the generic industry, promoting transparent and
equitable pricing for branded products, and implementing TRIPS-compliant
safeguards.
Partners will convene a major conference of Southern stakeholders in June
in Cochin, India, to discuss the growing, unmet demand for essential,
reproductive health commodities.