E-drug: WHO statement on WTO council for TRIPS
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WTO Council for TRIPS
5 to 7 March 2002
Statement by the representative of the World Health Organization
"As we are taking the floor for the first time since the Doha Ministerial
Declaration, WHO would like to congratulate WTO members for the attention
and interest given to the health sector and to the access to essential
medicines in particular. We would like also to welcome China as a new
member of the WTO.
The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, adopted by
the WTO Ministerial Conference, in November 2001, which affirms that the
TRIPS Agreement "can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner
supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and, in
particular, to promote access to medicines for all" marks a watershed in
international trade, demonstrating that a rules-based trading system should
be compatible with public health interests. The Declaration enshrines the
principle WHO has publicly advocated and advanced over the last four years,
namely, the re-affirmation of the right of WTO Members to make full use of
the safeguard provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in order to protect public
health and promote access to medicines.
WHO will continue to advise countries on the implications of globalization
on public health and access to medicines, as mandated by relevant WHA
resolutions. Furthermore, WHO will assess the implications of the Doha
Declaration as they relate to access to medicines. It will continue to
advise Member States, upon their request, on the implementation of the
Declaration into national legislation which affects access to medicines.
WHO is prepared to support WTO and the WTO Council for TRIPS, in whatever
way they would wish, including the Doha Ministerial Declaration's
instruction to find an expeditious solution about the use of compulsory
licensing by WTO Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in
the pharmaceutical sector."
Raushana Garcia
Drug Action Programme
Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
World Health Organization
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
E-mail: garciawickettr@who.int
Telephone: +00 41 22 791 2724
Facsimile: +00 41 22 791 4167
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