Title: Side Event to the 71st World Health Assembly, on Access to Medicines: Overcoming Obstacles created by monopolies – Essential to UHC and the 2030 Agenda
Date: 25 May 2018
Venue: Room VIII, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Organizers: Missions of Brazil, India, Morocco, Senegal, and Thailand, with the support of the South Centre
Title: Consultations with the United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) Subgroup 4 on Innovation and Access
Date: 8 May 2018
Venue: The South Centre, Geneva
Organizers: The South Centre, Third World Network and ReAct
Major Outcomes of the 71st Session of the World Health Assembly of WHO
By Nirmalya Syam and Mirza Alas
The 71st session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) took place from 21 to 26 May 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Assembly adopted several decisions and resolutions including the adoption of the General Programme of Work (GPW) of WHO for the period 2019-2023, as well as decisions on addressing access to medicines and vaccines and their global shortage, and the recommendations of an overall programme review of the WHO Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPA-PHI). (more…)
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of May 2018.
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of April 2018.
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of March 2018.
Title: The Global South Facing a New Era of Unilateralism and Protectionism: Challenges and Prospects
Date: Tuesday, 17 April 2018, 13h00-15h00
Venue: Room XXIII, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Organizers: The South Centre
South Centre Statement at the Meeting of Ministers of Health of the Member States of the Non-Aligned Movement
The South Centre reiterates its commitment to support the Non-Aligned countries so that there is close and effective cooperation among developing countries to strengthen a global health agenda. WHO was created as an international public agency in the service of global health. Recovering and reinforcing this role should be the work of all.
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of February 2018.
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of January 2018.
Outcomes of the 142nd session of the WHO Executive Board
The 142nd session of the WHO Executive Board discussed several critical public health issues including a recommendation to the WHA to approve the General Program of Work (GPW), the adoption of important decisions relating to access to medicines and research and development and a draft resolution on the preparation of the UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis.
EL CASO DE LA HEPATITIS C Y EL PROBLEMA GLOBAL DE ACCESO A LOS MEDICAMENTOS
By Ernesto Samper Pizano
“Los Estados partes en el presente Pacto reconocen el derecho de toda persona al disfrute del más alto nivel de salud física y mental”
(Pacto Internacional de Derechos económicos, sociales y culturales).
El 3 de marzo de 1989, en el aeropuerto de El Dorado de Bogotá, fui víctima de un atentado que casi me cuesta la vida. Por fortuna, recibí una atención rápida y eficaz en la clínica a donde fui trasladado. Lamentablemente, allí mismo, en medio de los afanes por salvarme, recibí una transfusión de sangre infectada por lo que entonces no se conocía como el virus de Hepatitis C, cuyo poder mortífero vino a ser descubierto y estudiado con posterioridad a mi atentado, cuando ya había dejado de ser presidente de Colombia. La eficaz persistencia de mi médico personal, el doctor Alonso Gómez Duque, me llevó a someterme entonces al calvario de un tratamiento para curar la enfermedad. Indagué, en primera instancia, qué tanto daño podía haber ocasionado en mi hígado. Los primeros exámenes de fibro-test, que miden a través de la sangre los niveles de fibrosidad hepática realizados en Francia, arrojaron, en un rango de 0 a 6, una cifra baja pero preocupante, entre 3 y 4, que aconsejaba, según el hepatólogo Víctor Hidrobo, un tratamiento inmediato. Tomé la decisión de hacerlo. Durante seis meses (que a mí me parecieron una eternidad) me apliqué una inyección semanal de interferón –una sustancia utilizada originalmente para la cura del cáncer– que acompañaba con seis pastillas diarias de rivarbirina para “fijar” el interferón, lo que convertía el tratamiento en una especie de quimioterapia ligera con muy molestos efectos colaterales.
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