[afro-nets] The Lancet: Global strategies need truly global discussions

["Claudio Schuftan" <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

The Lancet: Global strategies need truly global discussions
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http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606698140/fulltext

The Lancet 2006; 368:2034

DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69814-0
Editorial (excerpt)

Global strategies need truly global discussions

It should be an unspoken prerequisite for discussions of any global strategy that a globally representative selection of discussants takes part. Too often rich countries strike deals that affect, but do not involve, poor countries. The populations of these cash-strapped nations suffer as a result. Global negotiations on intellectual property are a prime example of this unjust tradition at work. So, if any discussions were to break the mould, it should have been WHO's Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property, which took place this week (Dec 4 - 8). Unfortunately, with a delegate list that excludes more than half of WHO's member states - a third of the missing are classed as Least Developed Countries by the UN - this working group seems set to perpetuate the very problems it has set out to address.

WHO can offer valuable support to help poor countries develop and enforce better policies to protect and promote public health while fostering innovation. But a global strategy to formalise this support will not work if WHO cannot bring the necessary players to the discussion table.

The Lancet

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Vern Weitzel 
mailto:vern@coombs.anu.edu.au