Governments Must Break Big Pharma-WTO Stranglehold on Access to Medicine: A Global Call to Action

In June 2022, the World Trade Organization (WTO) concludes its most significant decision-making meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), without agreement to temporarily waive WTO intellectual property rules restricting the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

The temporarily waiver has been demanded by the vast majority of the world’s countries and by public health experts, generic medicine manufacturers, human rights advocates, faith leaders, community groups, and many more. WFPHA has supported the demand by sending an open letter to the WTO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations (SG-UN), joining an urgent call to governments, and urging the WTO to do everything in its power to achieve agreement to the temporarily waiver.

In response to the ongoing failure to adopt the temporary waiver, WFPHA joins civil society organizations around the globe to call on governments to take actions to ensure everyone has access to the COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics necessary to save lives and end the pandemic.

The Casebook on Advocacy in Public Health Is Now Available in Chinese!

In June 2021, WFPHA published the Casebook on Advocacy in Public Health to highlight the importance of advocacy as a core function of public health. The Casebook brings together 18 cases of effective public health advocacy from around the world to share knowledge and best practices and to support public health associations and professionals in their activities.

The Casebook is now available in Chinese! We thank our member the Chinese Preventive Medicine Associations for their help with the translation! The Casebook will soon be available in Spanish and French.

WFPHA Statement during INB Public Hearings

The World Health Assembly Special Session (WHASS) which took place in December 2021 established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

In the decision establishing the INB, the WHA also requested the WHO Director-General to hold public hearings to inform its deliberations.

During the INB Public Hearings, held in June 2022, WFPHA provided the following statement:

As it stands, the current draft annotated outline of the proposed instrument contains a great deal of pretty language centring on themes related to equity, making mention of multilateralism, universal health coverage, technology transfer, and incorporation of One Health approaches — all of which the WFPHA supports and lauds.

However, it still lacks any mechanisms by which to ensure transparency and accountability. Part XI, which concerns Governance and Review, says that the section could clarify the ways by which the WHO could monitor and track member state commitments and establish a member state mechanism to oversee implementation, review, compliance and dispute settlement, with each member state obligated to send in routine reports.

Still, it lays out no specific mechanisms or measures and includes no penalties should a Member State fail to comply. Without the precise means by which to ensure the enactment of the proposed instrument, it remains a purely rhetorical, toothless paper.

The pandemic has proved our need to move beyond hollow words. The value of an international instrument exists solely in the implementation of a viable, legal framework by which we could ensure collaboration and equity of resources. Without concrete consequences, we are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past — something we cannot afford in the face of climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and other emerging diseases.

During the first round of hearings held in April 2022, WFPHA provided a joint statement on substantive elements of a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response.

IC2PerMed Meeting in Rome

WFPHA is one of the partners of the project Integrating China in the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine (IC2PerMed). This project aims to support EU-China collaboration on different aspects of personalised cancer medicine, such as research, innovation and policy developments, providing people with access to personalised, effective and inclusive healthcare solutions in the near future.

From 9 to 10 June 2022, WFPHA delegates Prof. Bettina Borisch and Dr. Marta Lomazzi met with the other consortium partners at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy, to validate a roadmap for the China’s integration.

WFPHA will organise a dedicated webinar to present the roadmap on 11 October 2022 and a high-level meeting in May 2023 to share evidence and best practice, and to empower public health professionals worldwide.

COVID-19 and Disability

A Reflection by Public Health Leadership Coalition’s Member – Jeff Smith 

In “The Disability Pandemic”, El Gibbs lays bare the reality of COVID-19 for many people with disability. The piece is both intensely honest, searingly analytical and, at its heart, bounded by optimism. El received the Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement in the 2020 National Disability Leadership Awards and UTS Community Alumni of the Year in 2021 for her work advocating for disabled people around COVID-19.