PHM-Exch> PHM Oz Forum on Trade and Health in the Pacific. Report now available.

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: David Legge <D.Legge at latrobe.edu.au>

Australia and New Zealand announced in 2009 that they were commencing
negotiations with 14 Pacific island countries for a new trade agreement to
be called PACER-Plus.  This new agreement would replace existing trade
arrangements in the region.



PACER-Plus has the potential to enhance or jeopardise health and health care
in the Pacific island countries. The current negotiations provide the
opportunity to get it right, to promote economic development in the Pacific,
to progress Health for All, and make progress towards realising the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).



However, there are also a range of ways a new trade agreement could
undermine health in the region – for example by reducing government revenue
available for health spending, by raising prices for patented medicines, or
by encouraging the privatisation of health services.



In March 2010, the People’s Health Movement (Australia) in association with
the Public Health Association of Australia and the Institute for Human
Security at La Trobe University convened a Public Forum on Trade and Health
in the Pacific which brought together a range of public health experts,
trade analysts, and Pacific commentators and posed the question *PACER-Plus:
Should we be concerned?*

* *

*The consensus among participants at the end of the Forum was: Yes, there
are real grounds for concern.*

* *

The report of this forum including key presentations, suggestions for
further activities and suggestions for further readings is now available for
download from the PHM Oz website.



See the forum outcomes page on the PHM Oz website at
http://tinyurl.com/3ayp8t4  or  http://tinyurl.com/2ulk29s for a direct link
to the report.
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