On Wednesday, May 18, 2011, eight civil society organizations submitted joint comments and recommendations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). Continue Reading
NGO Statement on WHO governance and the Management of Conflicts of Interest and the Future of Financing for WHO.
May 18, 2011
We write to express our concerns about governance of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other public health bodies, as regards the management of conflicts of interest.
Knowledge Ecology International: Patents and HealthDATE: Tuesday, 17 May 2011
TIME: 13:30-15h00
VENUE: Room B at the WIPO Main Building
Dramatic increase in waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, January 2010 to May 2011
AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) are state run programs that provide medicines to low-income HIV-positive patients who either have limited or no insurance coverage. ADAPs are essential in providing life-saving medicines to low-income patients, but these programs are threatened by the high costs of treatment.
Whither WHO reform? The future of the World Health Organization
On 11 March 2011, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), convened an “informal advisory meeting” to review different approaches to “securing greater coherence in global health” and to further WHO’s core function of “the directing and coordinating authority on international health work”. A summary report of this informal advisory meeting and the WHO’s background paper on “Global Health Governance and the WHO” can be found here: /wp-content/uploads/WHOglobalhealthgovernancedraft.pdf
The USTR Special 301 Report, some initial reactions
The USTR Special 301 Report was issued today. The full report is here, the USTR web page on the report is here, and a link to the USTR press release about the report is here. Continue Reading
Senator Wyden releases redacted version of October 29, 2010 CRS report on ACTA
On April 26, 2011, Senator Wyden released a redacted version of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on ACTA that has been the subject to an ongoing Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) dispute with USTR.
(More context here, here and here).
This is a link to the report that USTR claimed they could not release because of restrictions on its use by Senator Wyden.
/wp-content/uploads/RedactedACTACRSMemotoSenWyden.pdf
Ambassador Kirk’s responses to Senate Finance Committee suggests enforcement of TRIPS-plus data exclusivity measures
Recently, Ambassador Ron Kirk, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) responded to follow up questions from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee regarding the 2011 Trade Agenda. In addition to asserting that the U.S. Congress is not bound by ACTA, the responses suggest USTR desire to establish requirements for the implementation of data exclusivity provisions.
Six NGOs present recommendations for Moscow WHO forum on non-communicable diseases
Six NGOs, including Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Oxfam, Third World Network (TWN), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), and Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network (YP-CDN), recently submitted recommendations to Member States to control non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries in advance of the Moscow Ministerial conference.
A PDF of the joint statement with logos of the groups is available here:
/wp-content/uploads/ncd-6healthngos-moscow.pdfNotes from April 13, 2011 EBU/TACD/IFLA, EDA event at European Parliament on WIPO treaty for the blind