Only a month after a hotly-contested World Health Assembly resolution touched off a debate around “price transparency” as a way to improve access to medicines, a new controversy over how to stimulate access has emerged in another UN Forum, the Human Rights Council. This time the debate is around ways to “delink” incentives for the […] Continue reading ->
In the lead-up to the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in September, the latest draft of a planned political declaration calls on member states to increase transparency of the cost of research and development (R&D) – in addition to drug prices – but falls short in the area of R&D incentive […] Continue reading ->
Following the adoption of the World Health Assembly resolution on the transparency of medicines markets last month, a new civil society group has formed in France to monitor the French government’s implementation of the resolution. L’Observatoire Transparence Médicaments (Drug Transparency Observatory), was launched today in a statement calling on the French government and all countries […] Continue reading ->
Githinji Gitahi, Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee & Group Chief Executive Officer of AMREF Health Africa – the largest Africa-based healthcare non-profit – and Fumie Griego, Deputy Director General and Chief Operating Officer of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), share highlights from a panel discussion held in Geneva on the […] Continue reading ->
In a little-publicised move, the WHA last week agreed to close a critical loophole in the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework that could have allowed commercial vaccine manufacturers to indirectly make use of biological information about flu strains from another country – without providing that country with any benefits from the vaccines or antivirals […] Continue reading ->
In the wake of a World Health Assembly that became a focus of intense activist and social media attention over a WHO resolution on medicines price transparency, member states are now looking at new rules for shaping involvement of NGOs and other “non-state actors” at public WHO meetings. Image Credits: WHO. Continue reading ->
There has been a dramatic increase in security incidents around the epicentre of the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but a sharp decrease in hospital transmissions, increased vaccinations, and new measures to safeguard response teams, are positive signs, WHO officials told reporters today in a briefing. Image Credits: WHO/L.Mackenzie, Catherine […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Assembly today approved a milestone resolution to support greater public disclosure of prices for medicines and other health products – capping a nail-biting series of negotiations that continued until the very moment the measure came to the floor. Image Credits: Giulia Grillo, WHO. Continue reading ->
A closed-door group of negotiators reached agreement late Monday evening on a game-changing resolution to support greater public disclosure of prices in medicine markets, as well as costs of related R&D investments. Image Credits: Catherine Saez, WHO. Continue reading ->
The latest working draft World Health Assembly resolution calling for game-changing public disclosure of the prices paid for medicines, vaccines and other health products by countries and health systems shows a broad coalition of countries from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia forming around the compromise draft. The draft, obtained Sunday by Health Policy Watch, […] Continue reading ->