[Ip-health] African Civil Society Coalition on IGWG - statement to African Member States of WHO

[Christa Cepuch]

Dear friends,

African CSOs and NGOs are invited to join the African CS Coalition on
IGWG and to endorse the statement below.  The Coalition encourages CS
to lobby governments and IGWGII bis country delegations on these
crucial issues.  The IGWGII bis sessions will be held in Geneva from
28 April to 03 May 2008, and members of the Coalition will be in
attendance to represent the voice of African CS and to monitor the
negotiations.

Please send any comments, questions and organizational endorsements
to: info@haiafrica.org

Best regards on behalf of the African CS Coalition on IGWG
********************************************************************

The African Civil Society Coalition on IGWG[1]

STATEMENT TO THE AFRICAN MEMBER STATES OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
on the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation
and Intellectual Property

The African Civil Society Coalition on IGWG reiterates its commitment
to the ongoing WHO initiative to develop a Global Strategy and Plan of
Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.[2]  We
reaffirm there is an urgent need for action to improve access to
medicines for people in developing countries.

The health situation in our African countries remains severely
affected by various challenges, including the following:

- Our people cannot access the medicines they need.[3]
- The economic, social[4] and political determinants of illness are
not being sufficiently addressed.
- The pharmaceutical market is not driven by public health
interests[5], but by commercial interests.[6]
- Patent protection and high prices are two of the barriers blocking
poor people's access to medicines.[7]
- Funding for research, development[8] and access[9] (RDA) to
medicines is insufficient.
- There is a lack of innovation for medicines for many of the diseases
prevalent in our countries.[10] Health interests of poor people are
neglected by the profit-driven pharmaceutical market. Indeed, the WHO
Commission on IP, Innovation and Health (CIPIH) concluded that patents
do not work as incentives for research and development (R&D) for
medicines for poor people.[11]


With this background, and having reviewed the outcome of the IGWGII
meeting in November 2007, we have compiled notes and comments on the
outstanding issues in the current version of the IGWG draft strategy.
Our specific in-text comments may be found within the attached draft
document, and we welcome this opportunity to share them with African
delegates to IGWG II bis (scheduled for 28 April =96 03 May 2008) and
other IGWG related deliberations.

General comments on the draft IGWG strategy

- Health is a Human Right.  The WHO Constitution recognizes health as
a Human Right and all Member States of WHO, by way of their
membership, reaffirm this fact.  The strategy under development by the
IGWG on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property must be
addressed in a Human Rights context.  We support those WHO Member
States who seek to (a) uphold the WHO Constitution and (b) fulfil
their obligations regarding this Human Right.
- The issues of Human Rights, public health and access to essential
medicines must remain as primary foci and objectives when considering
issues of innovation and intellectual property (IP).
- The Right to Health must take precedence over commercial interests.
- The Essential Medicines Concept as defined by WHO[12] must be
recognized, supported and integrated into the IGWG Strategy.
- The Type I diseases our people are increasingly experiencing should
be prioritized along with the Type II and III diseases, as the
epidemiologic transition progresses through our countries and the rest
of the developing world.
- "Research" for health products for the diseases affecting our people
must encompass discovery, development and delivery.
- RDA and its funding is the primary responsibility of our governments
and the public sector, therefore public and private (including
philanthropic) responsibilities should not be construed as "equal."
- Research in traditional medicines should be encouraged, taking into
account the rights of the local communities and international efforts
to protect traditional knowledge.
- In line with the recent Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global
Action on health workers,[13] the "brain drain" and migration of our
African health professionals, including researchers, is a serious
problem for Africa.  Developed countries should stop recruiting our
skilled health workers and our governments should make all efforts to
retain them.
- Developed countries should be encouraged to facilitate the transfer
of technology to developing countries, and developing countries must
ensure an enabling environment for its success.
- The progressive concepts of open source compound libraries and
digital databases, patent pools and alternative licensing policies
should be developed and implemented.

Conclusion

We note with deep concern that while our people struggle to access the
health care and essential medicines they need, the majority of African
Member States to the WHO are not adequately represented in the current
IGWG negotiations.  The outcomes of the negotiations will be an
important plan of action; its main beneficiaries will largely be our
people.   We urge our governments to take action, monitor, and
represent us effectively throughout this process.

We urge our African governments to honour, without delay, their
commitments on health financing in accordance with the Abuja
Declarations.[14]  Financing for the implementation of the IGWG
strategy does not absolve our governments from their Abuja
Declarations commitments.  In this regard, we call upon our
governments to support and contribute to the financing mechanisms
agreed upon for the implementation of the IGWG strategy.

We recognize WHO as the United Nations agency with the lead mandate on
all issues pertaining to health, including the relationship between
health, trade, intellectual property, and innovation.  We therefore
call upon our African governments to seek technical assistance from
WHO when addressing these issues.  In turn, we urge our governments to
request WHO to strengthen its focus and technical capacity in these
areas.

As African civil society, we reaffirm our commitment to the IGWG
process and to engage with our governments in the ongoing struggle to
ensure the delivery of comprehensive, participatory and equitable
health care, including universal access to essential medicines, for
all our people.

04 April 2008, Arusha

________________________________

[1] The African CS Coalition on IGWG met for the second time in Arusha
on 03 =96 04 April 2008.  The Coalition includes: HAI Africa, EPN, DNDi
Africa Liaison Office, HERAF Kenya, CIN Kenya, SEATINI, CWGH Zimbabwe,
MWENGO Zimbabwe, CHESSORE Zambia, HEPS Uganda, WLAC Tz, SAfAIDS, ICP
Mauritius, APPiA Cameroon, and Oxfam GB South Africa
[2] WHO document A/PHI/IGWG/2/Conf.paper No.1 Rev.1 14 Dec 07
www.who.int/gb/phi/pdf/igwg2/PHI_IGWG2_CP1Rev1-en.pdf
[3] In the poorest parts of Africa, half the population cannot access
essential medicines
http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/tf_essentialmedecines.htm
[4] WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health at
www.who.int/social_determinants/en/
[5] www.accessmed-msf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/medinnov_accesspatents/fata=
l%20imbalance.pdf
and www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673602090967/abstract
[6] Statistics on the global sales and profits of the pharmaceutical
industry are found on www.imshealth.com
[7] Medicine prices - a new approach to measurement HAI / WHO
http://www.haiweb.org/medicineprices/survey_results.php
[8] www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA59/A59_R24-en.pdf
[9] www.globalhealthfacts.org
[10] Chirac, P., Torreele, E. Global framework on essential health
R&D. Lancet 367: 1560 =96 1561
[11] www.who.int/intellectualproperty/report/en/index.html
[12] Essential medicines are defined by WHO as "those that satisfy the
priority health care needs of the population.  They are selected with
due regard to public health relevance, evidence on efficacy and
safety, and comparative cost-effectiveness.  Essential medicines are
intended to be available within the context of functioning health
systems at all times in adequate amounts, in the appropriate dosage
forms, with assured quality and adequate information, and at a price
the individual and the community can afford."  www.who.int/medicines
[13] www.who.int/workforcealliance/forum/2_declaration_final.pdf
[14] www.un.org/ga/aids/pdf/abuja_declaration.pdf (2001) and
www.africa-union.org/root/au/conferences/past/2006/may/summit/doc/en/ABUJA_=
CALL.pdf
(2006)