A resolution on HIV/AIDS was adopted, instructing WHO to provide information on drug prices, and to advise countries on best treatment options and how to overcome legal and regulatory barriers to purchase low price medicines. Countries called on WHO to assist countries in revising their national laws to comply with TRIPS Agreement provisions. The Assembly was marked by the active participation of trade and IP experts representing member states and international organizations.
The annual meeting of the 191 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) took place in Geneva, 15-21 May 2000. During the meeting, a team with members from MSF, Consumer Project on Technology (CPT) and Health Action International (HAI) met with country delegations to urge them to consider access issues. MSF also collaborated with members of ACT UP/Paris and ACT UP/Philadelphia who were at the meeting.
On 20 May, the World Health Assembly adopted a comprehensive resolution on HIV/AIDS. The resolution instructs WHO to advise countries on best treatment options for HIV/AIDS and calls on WHO to provide information on HIV/AIDS drug prices in the global market to enable countries to shop around for best-value drugs. During the meeting, countries proposed expanding existing databases to include information on prices for essential drugs, including HIV/AIDS drugs. This should go beyond the classic WHO essential drug list and include drug prices for other key medication. For such a database to be truly useful, it would have to be accessible via the internet.
The resolution also asks WHO to advise countries on how to overcome legal and regulatory barriers to purchase low price medicines in the global market place. This would include advice on how to overcome obstacles relating to the protection of intellectual property. Many countries felt that there was a need to encourage local generic production of HIV/AIDS drugs and to promote the use of measures such as parallel imports and compulsory licensing to reduce the cost of HIV/AIDS treatments.
During the debate on the revised drug strategy, developing countries stressed the need for an independent agency, such as WHO, to actively advise on intellectual property issues relating to health. Delegates thought that WHO should be completely independent in this advisory role and should not be obligated to consult WTO or WIPO. Countries that have signed the TRIPS agreement have to revise their national laws to comply with the provisions of the agreement. Delegates called on WHO to become more involved in assisting countries in this process. Although it was rumoured that the United States was going to oppose any attempt by WHO to expand its role to addressing intellectual property issues, a group of developing country delegations, alerted to the US position, were able to prevent this from happening. The message that came out was that WHO must advise countries on the public health implications of international trade agreements.
This year's Assembly was marked by the active participation of trade and intellectual property experts representing member states and international organizations. In response to their presence, the Zimbabwean Minister of Health reminded those present that "We are at the World Health Assembly, not the World Intellectual Property Assembly".
During the Assembly, Magriet de Boer from MSF-Holland participated in a briefing session on counterfeit drugs for member states. She stressed the need to distinguish between counterfeit, sub-standard and generic drugs and made a plea for increasing access to drugs by making more use of reliable generic suppliers.