On the 19th of October Oxfam International and Health Action International (HAI) have published a critical report on EU policies that undermine the the right to health in developing countries. The clear incoherence between the EU pursuing trade agendas in favor of its pharmaceutical industry on the one hand and the support to the DOHA declaration and other efforts of the EC in improving access to health care in developing countries on the other hand, is strongly emphasised. At the same time, the EU does not do enough to support the medical innovation needed.
Criticising the introduction of TRIPs-plus rules in (free) trade agreements with developing countries, the exertion of bilateral pressure to prevent these countries from using TRIPs public health safeguards to reduce medicine prices, and the introduction of a new global framework to enforce IP rules that has been seen to result in seizures of legal generic medicines for poor countries, the report suggests a set of recommendations. The honouring of commitments under the MDGs, Doha Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health, as well as the relevant World Health Assembly resolutions should form the starting point in this.
Click here for the full report.
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