PHM-Exch> Submission to WHO's consultation on conflicts of interest

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Patti Rundall <prundall at babymilkaction.org>

*
Dear endorsers of the Conflict of Interest Statement. *

Thanks to all those who agreed to the proposal that we submit a statement
 to  WHO's Consultation on Partnership before the  deadline of *9th April *.

Our ad-hoc Committee (which consists of London-based groups and some
overseas on skype)  will be meeting tomorrow to discuss proposed Terms of
Reference and other issues which will be circulated to you soon.

In the meantime we have approved the following short statement which, as
you will see,  is simply based on our already agreed statement.

Could you take a look and let me know as soon as possible if you have any
problems with this being sent to WHO on Monday along with the full statement

many many thanks for your speedy response on this.


*Conflict of interest Coalition submission to the WHO Consultation of
Multisectoral action for the prevention and control of NCDs through
effective partnership *


The attached Statement of Concern was developed by the Conflicts of
Interest Coalition and was submitted to the President of the UN General
Assembly in September.  It has now been endorsed by 150 national, regional
and global networks and organisations working in different fields of public
health, including medicine, nutrition, cancer, diabetes, heart disease,
lung disease, mental health, infant feeding, food safety and development.


In addition to the submissions  made by individual organisations to this
consultation,  we request  that  the principles and recommendations are
applied to all areas of WHO's public health policy setting, but in
particular to its work on NCDs.

In particular the Statement  focuses on the lack of clarity regarding the
role of the private sector in public policy-making and calls for the
development of a Code of Conduct and Ethical Framework to help protect the
integrity of, and to ensure transparency in, WHO's public policy
decision-making, by safeguarding against, identifying and managing
conflicts of interest.


The Statement calls for:

   - a clear distinction to be made between business-interest
   not-for-profit organisations (BINGOs) and public interest non-governmental
   organisations (PINGOs)
   - a clear  differentiation between policy and norms and
   standards development and appropriate involvement in implementation.


Since the major causes of preventable death are driven by diseases related
to tobacco, poor diet, physical inactivity and alcohol drinking, the
endorsers of the Statement are concerned about the overuse of the term
 ‘partnerships’  - without any clarification of what this term means.  We
remain concerned that  Public-private partnerships in these areas can
counteract efforts to protect and improve public health.

We call on WHO to develop  guidance for Member States to identify
conflicts, eliminate those that are not permissible and manage those
considered, based on thorough risk/benefit analysis, acceptable.
Transparency, although an essential requirement and first step, is not a
sufficient safeguard in and of itself against negative impacts of conflicts
of interest.

Patti Rundall,  OBE, Policy Director, Baby Milk Action
*www.babymilkaction.org*
Policy Blog: *http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/policyblog*

Member of the* Conflict of Interest Coalition:* The Conflict of Interest
Coalition comprises civil society organisations united by the common
objective of safeguarding public health policy-making against commercial
conflicts of interest through the development of a Code of Conduct and
Ethical Framework for interactions with the private sector.
* http://coicoalition.blogspot.com*
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