UN-sponsored report looks at ways to ensure medicines for developing countries
Over half the people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia lack regular access to essential medicines because they cannot afford them, or because the health system in their country is too weak, according to a new report commissioned by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), which contains recommendations to remedy the situation.
Over half the people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia lack regular access to essential medicines because they cannot afford them, or because the health system in their country is too weak, according to a new report commissioned by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), which contains recommendations to remedy the situation.
An independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health, which has been working on the report for two years, formally presented it to the WHO today, where it will be considered by a working group from the organization at a meeting on 28 April.
"There is now global momentum to address these issues, and we have a unique opportunity to build on this. There is more awareness, more money potentially available, more utilization of scientific capacity in developing countries and new institutions such as public–private partnerships,” said Ruth Dreifuss, Chair of the Commission.
“The Commission report is clear that we must build on all of these to ensure that poor people in developing countries have sustainable access to the medicines, vaccines and diagnostics they need now, and critically, in the future. The report maps out the ways this can be done."
Apart from access to existing medicines, some health products specifically for diseases which disproportionately affect developing countries are simply not developed at all due to the lack of a sustainable market, according to a WHO press release. The relationship between intellectual property rights, innovation and public health has been at the heart of debate on these issues, the agency adds.
"We are grateful to the Commissioners for undertaking this difficult task. With this report, the Commission has built a solid foundation from which countries can move forward. I encourage all countries to give serious consideration to their role in addressing these critical issues," said WHO Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook.
The report, entitled “Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights", is the result of two years' analysis of how governments, industry, scientists, international law and financing mechanisms can work best to overcome the challenges, and it contains more than 50 recommendations that serve as a road map for tackling the issues in different country settings.
The report was commissioned by the World Health Assembly, WHO's governing body of 192 Member States. The Commission included ten members, and represented the perspectives of government, industry, public–private partnerships, science, medicine, law and economics.