The new agreement that eleven countries are signing on 8 March in Chile in place of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is like old wine in a new bottle — without the United States but retaining most of its controversial elements. The TPP seemed to have died when President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it early last year. But the remaining 11 members have rescued it almost intact, giving it a new name, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). (more…)
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. (more…)
Stock market turmoil may expose flaws in global finance
By Martin Khor
Was last week’s global stock market sell-off only a “correction” or does it signify a new period of financial instability, caused by major flaws in the world financial system? (more…)
With floods now causing more damage more frequently around the world, it is time to counter their effects by turning our towns into “Sponge Cities”, a recent trend popularised by China to absorb rainwater through permeable roads and pavements, parks, rooftop gardens and other green spaces. (more…)
This week the Prince Mahidol Awards conference will bring a global spotlight to the threat of emerging infectious diseases. The growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will feature prominently in these discussions. The timing could not be better, but we urgently need to see more action on the part of the UN Interagency Coordination Group on AMR and key intergovernmental agencies gathering in Bangkok. (more…)
Heading off Global Action on Access to Medicines in 2018
By Dr. Jorge Bermudez and Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien
At the dawn of 2018, political and health leaders must seize the growing momentum and opportunities to tackle the protracted challenges of access to medicines that undermine efforts to save lives and improve health as committed under the Agenda 2030 SDG by all UN member states. (more…)
There are several key social and environmental issues to watch out for in 2018 as they are close to reaching a tipping point, says this preview of the new year by the South Centre’s Executive Director Martin Khor. (more…)
As global health leaders warn that antibiotic resistance is leading to the end of modern medicine, the World Health Organization (WHO) issues guidelines to prohibit or restrict using antibiotics to feed animals reared for their meat. Urgent coordinated actions are needed to avoid the end of modern medicine. The author Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre. This article was also published by Inter Press Service (IPS) (more…)
Intellectual Property for the TwentyFirst-Century Economy
By Joseph E. Stiglitz , Dean Baker , Arjun Jayadev
Developing countries are increasingly pushing back against the intellectual property regime foisted on them by the advanced economies over the last 30 years. They are right to do so, because what matters is not only the production of knowledge, but also that it is used in ways that put the health and wellbeing of people ahead of corporate profits. (more…)
The Trump tax reform plan is likely to negatively affect developing countries
By Yuefen LI
The Trump administration has proposed a tax reform framework to the US Congress. Major components are a large reduction in the corporate tax rate, changes to the way US profits currently earned abroad are taxed, and how past profits parked abroad are treated if brought home. All these reforms if accepted by Congress, will most likely have adverse effects for developing countries, including by increasing capital flows from and reducing FDI to them. (more…)
Public-Private Partnerships as the Answer . . . What was the Question?
By Manuel F. Montes
In discussions at the UN about achieving Agenda 2030, it has become de rigueur to highlight the role of the private sector. It is often introduced as the discovery of the idea that private sector investment and financing is indispensable to achieving Agenda 2030. For developed country diplomats and their associated experts this new celebrity treatment appears to be an article of faith, at least during negotiations on economic matters in the UN. They are foisting a misleading Trumpian exaggeration that is technically harmful to development policymaking and to Agenda 2030. (more…)
