UNAIDS calls on all countries to remove laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and to enact laws that protect them, in order to ensure that all people have full access to health services for HIV/AIDS. Image Credits: UNAIDS. Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has launched an online Health Product Profile Directory to guide the development of new health products for which there are limited markets or incentives for research and development. Image Credits: WHO. Continue reading ->
Health Policy Watch is publishing in an open-access format the latest draft of the World Health Assembly resolution on transparency of drug costs. The new draft, now available to all, reflects changes from the 10 May closed-door informal negotiations at the WHO, and shows progress toward compromise among member states. Continue reading ->
Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, shared his view on fair pricing with Health Policy Watch: “Most of us can probably agree that innovation is meaningless if it does not reach patients. At the same time, a Fair Price must strike a balance between a price that is […] Continue reading ->
More than 100 civil society organisations and health experts signed on to an open letter yesterday calling out Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the UK and Australia, along with Austria and the United States, as wanting to “derail” and “weaken” the transparency resolution on drug prices and R&D costs. Image Credits: CDDEP. Continue reading ->
This year’s World Health Assembly will provide perhaps the best measure to date of the World Health Organization director-general’s policies since taking office nearly two years ago. But it will also reflect changing times for country relationships and for the state of global health. Image Credits: Photo: WHO/Antoine Tardy, WHO/Antoine Tardy, WHO, WHO/J. D. Kannah. Continue reading ->
A new draft text from an informal consultation at the World Health Organization yesterday shows a North-South divide emerging as member states made changes to the proposed resolution on the transparency of drug prices and the costs of research and development (R&D), brought forward by Italy earlier this year, that is slated for discussion at […] Continue reading ->
A number of developed countries are working to delay a landmark proposal at the World Health Organization by Italy to increase transparency of drug prices and R&D costs in an effort to make medicines more affordable, according to sources. The Italian proposal has garnered a number of supporters, including within Europe; but at an informal WHO consultation today and last week at the European Union, countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have begun pushing for postponement of discussions, sources said. [Now updated with new version of proposal!] Continue reading ->
Loss of biodiversity around the world is happening at an unprecedented rate, damaging ecosystems and threatening grave impacts to human well-being, a new landmark report warns. But it’s not too late to make a difference, it says, through transformative, system-wide change across technological, economic and social factors. Image Credits: IPBES/Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas, IPBES. Continue reading ->
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) this week launched its new five-year strategy that aims to overcome final hurdles in eradicating polio transmission. However, remaining pockets of transmission in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria pose challenges of geographic isolation, migration and insecurity, leading to “missing children” in polio vaccination efforts. Image Credits: Jean-Marc Giboux, GPEI. Continue reading ->