PHA-Exchange> Support needed for WHO health R & D resolution

[Claudio]

From: Ruth Mayne 

On 23rd to 28th January the WHO Executive Board will meet and vote on a resolution which proposes a new global framework for health R&D.? (See Kenyan resolution outlined below, and background document). A group of NGOs including Consumer Project on Technology, MSF, DNDI, BUKO are trying to galvanise support for the resolution. 

We urgently need NGOs/CSOs to lobby governments represented on the WHO Executive Board to support the resolution (see list below), as well as to feed back information about their government position.

We were wondering whether (a) your organisation would be able to contact the government, and (b) whether you could share  names/contact addresses of health organisations in any of the other WHO Exec Board member countries outlined below that we could contact  

The resolution is a really strategic and important opportunity to get support for a new global framework for health R& D which addresses the priority health needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and other diseases, especially those in poor countries, and to develop improved safe and affordable health products such as HIV vaccines. (As youwill be aware the current system of health R & D relies disproportionately on the patent system which does not provide sufficient incentives to develop drugs for diseases that primarily affect people living in poverty, and can result in high prices and reduced access, etc). 

1)  KENYAN RESOLUTION  (excerpts)

On November 16, 2005, the Republic of Kenya asked the WHO to discuss a proposed resolution on a "Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development" at the January meeting of the WHO's Executive Board. The Kenya government latter provided the WHO with a background document that explains the resolution. The WHO EB meeting starts January 23. Below is the text of the proposed resolution (excerpts), and the background document.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Executive Board
117th Session January 2006

Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development

The Executive Board,

Having considered the report of the WHO Commission on Intellectual
Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health;[1] and following current
developments regarding access to medicine and the need to urgently
develop new medicines and other health care technologies,

RECOMMENDS to the Fifty-ninth World Health Assembly the adoption of the following :

We Urge Member States:

(1) to make global health and medicines a strategic sector and take
determined action to direct R&D priorities according to the needs of the
patients, especially those in resource-poor settings, and harness
collaborative R&D initiatives involving disease-endemic countries;

(2) to take an active part, together with the World Health Organization
and other international actors, in the development and establishment of
a global framework for defining global health priorities, supporting
essential medical research and development predicated upon the principle
of equitable sharing of the costs of research and development, and
incentives to invest in useful research and development in the areas of
patients' need and public interest.

(3) to ensure that progress in basic science and biomedicine is
translated into improved, safe and affordable health products - drugs,
vaccines and diagnostics - to respond to all patients' needs, especially
those living in poverty, and that essential medicines are rapidly
delivered to people;

Requests the Director-General:

(1) to establish a working group of interested Member -States to
consider proposals to establish a global framework for supporting
needs-driven research, consistent with appropriate public interest issues.

(2) to submit a progress report of the working group of interested
member -States to the Sixtieth World Health Assembly (May 2008) and a
final report with concrete proposals to the Executive Board at its 121st
session (January 2009).




LIST OF WHO EB MEMBER GOVERNMENTS

The Executive Board is composed of 32 persons who are technically qualified in the field of health, each designated by a Member State that has been elected to serve by the World Health Assembly. Member States are elected for three-year terms.


The affiliations appear in the style and the language used by the corresponding member of the Board.


*AUSTRALIA 2004-2007
*Ms J. Halton
Secretary, Department of Health and Ageing
Canberra, ACT
*
AZERBAIJAN 2005-2008
*Dr A.B. Insanov
Minister of Health
Baku


*BAHRAIN 2004-2007*
Dr N.A. Haffadh
Minister of Health
Manama


*BHUTAN 2005-2008*
Dr J. Singay
Minister of Health
Thimphu


*BOLIVIA 2004-2007
*Dr. F. Antezana Araníbar
Ministro de Salud y Deportes
La Paz


*BRAZIL 2004-2007
*Dr P. Marchiori Buss
President, Fiocruz Foundation
Rio de Janeiro


*CANADA 2003-2006
*Mr I. Shugart
Assistant Deputy Minister
Health Canada
Ottawa


*CZECH REPUBLIC 2003-2006
*Professor B. Fiser
Head, Physiology Institute of the Masaryk University
Brno


*ECUADOR 2003-2006
*Dr F. Huerta Montalvo
Secretario Ejecutivo
Convenio Andrés Bello
Bogotá D.C.
Colombia


*FRANCE 2003-2006
*Professeur D. Houssin
Directeur général de la Santé
Ministère des Solidarités, de la Santé et de la Famille
Paris


*GUINEA-BISSAU 2003-2006
*Dr J.C. Sá Nogueira
Directeur général de la Santé publique
Bissau


*ICELAND 2003-2006
*Mr D.Á. Gunnarsson
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Health and Social Security
Reykjavik


*IRAQ
*Dr A.M. Ali Mohammed
Minister of Health
Baghdad


*JAMAICA 2004-2007
*Mr J.A. Junor
Minister of Health
Kingston


*JAPAN 2005-2008
*Dr H. Shinozaki
President, National Institute of Public Health
Tokyo


*KENYA 2004-2007
*Dr J. Nyikal
Director, Medical Services
Preventive and Promotive Health Services
Ministry of Health
Nairobi
*
LESOTHO 2004-2007
*Dr M. Phooko
Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Maseru


*LIBERIA
*Dr P.S. Coleman
Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Monrovia


*LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA 2004-2007
*Dr F. Al-Keeb
Director, General Planning Board for Primary Medical Care
General People's Committee
Jufra


*LUXEMBOURG 2004-2007
*Dr D. Hansen-Koenig
Directeur de la Santé
Ministère de la Santé
Luxembourg


*MADAGASCAR 2005-2008
*Dr R.R. Jean Louis
Ministre de la Santé et du Planning familial
Antananarivo


*MEXICO 2005-2008
*Dr. M. Bailón González
Director General de Relaciones Internacionales
Secretaría de Salud
Mexico DF


*NAMIBIA 2005-2008
*Dr K. Shangula
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Social Services
Windhoek


*NEPAL 2003-2006
*Dr H.N. Acharya
Chief, Public Health Administration
Monitoring and Evaluation Division
Ministry of Health
Kathmandu


*PAKISTAN 2003-2006
*Mr M.N. Khan
Federal Minister of Health
Islamabad


*PORTUGAL 2005-2008
*Professeur J. Pereira Miguel
Directeur-général de la Santé
Ministério da Saudé
Lisboa


*ROMANIA 2004-2007
*Professeur M. Cinteza
Minister of Health
Bucarest


*RWANDA 2005-2008
*Dr J.D. Ntawukuliryayo
Ministre de la Santé publique
Kigali


*SUDAN 2003-2006
*Dr A.B. Osman
Minister of Health
Khartoum


*THAILAND 2004-2007
*Professor Suchai Charoenratanakul
Minister of Public Health
Bangkok


*TONGA 2004-2007
*Dr V. Tangi
Minister of Health
Nuku'alofa

*VIET NAM 2003-2006
*Mrs Le Thi Thu Ha
Deputy Director, Department of International Cooperation
Ministry of Health
Hanoi





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