Jun 4, 1998

HEALTH: BRUNDTLAND URGED TO CHAMPION PUBLIC HEALTH IN TRADE DEBATE

 

Geneva, 3 June (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- The new Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland has been urged to show "firm leadership" when she takes office in July, and ensure that public health goals receive priority over commercial interest. 

The Health Action International (HAI) -- an informal network of some 100 consumer, development action and other public interest groups involved in health and pharmaceutical issues in some 60 countries -- has issued this appeal reacting to the failure of the 51st World Health Assembly last month to reach a consensus on the Revised Drug Strategy resolution proposed by the WHO executive board.  

The resolution proposed by the executive board would have asked Member-States to review their options under the TRIPs accord of the World Trade Organization and safeguard access of their peoples to essential drugs and ensure that "public health rather than commercial interests have primacy in pharmaceutical and health policies."  

Under pressure from the pharmaceutical TNC lobby, and acting on the suggestion of the US and Italian delegations, the Health Assembly referred back the resolution to Executive Board.  

The HAI appeal to Brundtland, and the statement on the Assembly's failure to act on the issue, said that both before and during the Assembly, the brand-name pharmaceutical industry and representatives from several industrialized countries had expressed strong opposition to the Executive Board resolution.  

The industry and these delegations were particularly opposed to the language in the resolution that public health interests rather than commercial interests should have 'primacy' in pharmaceutical and health policies and that countries should review their options under TRIPS to safeguard access of their people to essential drugs.  

"Unfortunately, by using scare tactics and casting the issue in extreme terms, some industry supporters were able to hide the real controversy behind the intellectual property rights issue," said the HAI.  

As James Love, Director of the Consumer Project for Technology (a US-based NGO) who was at the Health Assembly said: "The issue is not whether or not there will be a patent system, but rather what the patent system will look like and who will decide? The issue is not who will benefit, but who will benefit the most, and which alternatives best achieve public health goals." 

HAI said that some areas where public health priorities should be considered in trade disputes include: the pricing of drugs developed with public funds; compulsory licensing of essential drugs in poor countries; and parallel imports of pharmaceuticals.  

"I was amazed to see delegates at a forum which sets priorities for world health policies opposing the wording that placed public health above trade," said Bas van der Heide, coordinator of HAI-Europe. "Even international trade agreements have provisions to allow public health to take priority in certain situations."  

HAI called on WHO to uphold its international mandate to safeguard public health in international trade issues. "WHO guidance on trade issues will continue to be necessary to identify how much freedom member states have to enact legislation that both conforms with trade agreements and is consistent with health policy."

But the activities of some countries at the Health Assembly cast large doubts on their commitment to this mandate, HAI complained. At the WHA, a small drafting group was unable to reach a compromise wording on the Revised Drug Strategy draft resolution until the day before the week-long meeting ended. This resulted in not sufficient time being vailable for a real debate on the resolution in the full committee.

Although many countries wanted to speak on the resolution, the debate was pre-empted at the suggestion of the US and Italian delegates and referred back to the WHO Executive Board with an understanding that an ad hoc working group be set up to draft a resolution for the consideration of the Board in 1999.  

HAI is "very concerned about this future process," the HAI statement said. At the WHA, a few developed countries were able to block "an open discussion on the implications of trade agreements." A working group open to all member states and meeting in Geneva is likely to be dominated by nearby and rich countries."  

"The fact that this discussion was cut short was a missed opportunity," said Robert Lopez coordinator of the NGO 'Action Internacional para la Salud' (AIS). "Now it is crucial that developing countries and NGOs representing consumers and the public interest take part in the working group's discussions."