Here's a first draft of the proposal. I've tried to follow the guidelines as much as I can, but welcome any and all feedback. I'm particularly troubled by section 3 [edit: now secction 4]. I'm not sure whether it violates the "optionality" requirement for proposals, but I also don't want the proposal to be shot down by all the corporate oligarchies, so I figured this was a compromise. Any ideas on how to improve it are welcome, as it's also very short compared to the rest of the proposal.
Otherwise, I've done my best to scan through the most relevant seeming previous resolutions, but I assume I've probably missed one and this proposal either duplicates or contradicts something. Let me know if you spot something and I'll see if I can adjust things.
- Xanthorrhoea.
CURRENT DRAFT (Ver. 6):
Category: Health (Healthcare)
The General Assembly:
Recognising the numerous social, humanitarian and economic benefits of a healthy, happy populace, and the importance of access to effective medication in maintaining this health and happiness;
Recalling the efforts of resolutions such as GA 333 Preserving Antimicrobials, GA 429 Traditional Medicine, and GA 571 Access to Transgender Hormone Therapy to improve access to safe and effective medication worldwide;
Noting, despite these efforts, the ongoing disproportionate distribution of access to effective medications between nations, and between peoples within nations, including the significant impact of poverty and income inequality on this access, and noting the lack of a globally accepted standard of medical treatment;
Seeking to reaffirm and strengthen its commitment to improving the health of all peoples, regardless of World Assembly (WA) membership status, hereby enacts the following:
- The World Medications Council (henceforth the WMC) is established as a branch of the World Health Authority, with the purpose of improving access to safe, efficacious, and cost-effective medications in all nations. The WMC shall have the following duties:
- To assess and record the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of all known medications, defined as any substance used to diagnose, prevent, treat, or manage the symptoms of disease, medical and/or psychological conditions (including for the purposes of disinfection, immunisation, contraception, abortion, hormone therapy, and euthanasia). In assessing a medication, the WMC must consider:
- A medication’s safety, including the severity and frequency of known adverse effects, the therapeutic range, toxicity, interactions with other medications, and requirements for that medication safe storage, handling, and administration of the medication;
- The impact of patient factors on a medication’s safety, including species, pregnancy, intercurrent medical and/or psychological conditions, employment, and lifestyle factors;
- A medication’s efficacy for all indications for which it is used, including the magnitude of effect, whether a medication is curative or requires ongoing use, the therapeutic dose, frequency of dosing, duration of therapy, and synergistic or adverse effects when used with other medications;
- A medication’s relative cost-effectiveness, including the medication price, total cost of therapy, costs associated with storage, handling and transport, staff training and safety protocols required for its use, and relative cost and efficacy compared to other available medications used for the same or similar purposes; and
- Any other factors it deems relevant.
- A medication’s safety, including the severity and frequency of known adverse effects, the therapeutic range, toxicity, interactions with other medications, and requirements for that medication safe storage, handling, and administration of the medication;
- To, based on this assessment, create and maintain an Effective Medications List (henceforth the EML), containing those medications that are best suited to meet the needs of an effective health system.
- To regularly assess and update the EML based upon the current scientific consensus.
- To undertake activities to promote access to medications on the EML in all WA member nations (henceforth members).
- To promote access to medications on the EML in non-WA member nations, with the consent and according to the laws of those nations.
- To assess and record the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of all known medications, defined as any substance used to diagnose, prevent, treat, or manage the symptoms of disease, medical and/or psychological conditions (including for the purposes of disinfection, immunisation, contraception, abortion, hormone therapy, and euthanasia). In assessing a medication, the WMC must consider:
- All members must provide access to all medications included in the EML to all residents of their nation, unless one of the following exceptions applies. Nations are not required to provide access to a medication:
- That is illegal, or for purposes that are illegal in that nation, for all of their residents;
- For purposes other than the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, or management of disease, medical and/or psychological conditions for which that medication has an established clinical use; or
- That they cannot provide access to for reasons outside their control. In this case, they must provide access to an available similarly effective alternative, and provide access to the unavailable medication as soon as possible.
- That is illegal, or for purposes that are illegal in that nation, for all of their residents;
- Members must ensure that medications are priced in a way that allows all residents to afford all the medications they require while maintaining an adequate standard of living.
- Members are encouraged to minimise the cost of medications to patients through all appropriate means, including subsidising common and/or effective medications, standardising prices, enforcing strong anti-trust legislation, and creating special access schemes for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
Co-authored by Tinhampton
Edit 1: Expanded on the purpose of the proposal as kindly suggested by Her Excellency Mortimer Wellesley of Imperium Anglorum. Reworded clause 1a to make it less clunky, reworded clauses 2a and 2b to tighten up their application (thanks to the minister of Abacathea for their suggestions).
Edit 2: Re-structured the last sentence of clause 1a to make it less clunky.
Edit 3: Minor spelling/grammar/punctuation etc. Improved formatting.
Clause 1.a.i: "...The WMC shall also examine the impact of patient factors on a medication’s safety, including pregnancy,
Clause 3: "Encourages all WA member nations to minimise the cost of medications to patients through all appropriate means, including subsidisation of common and/or effective medication, price standardisation, anti-monopoly legislation, and special access schemes for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups."
Edit 4: Added a caveat to Clause 2a. Added Clause 4 (Now clause 3 as of Edit 5). Moved edit log below main proposal text.
Edit 5: Updated Clause 1ai to include species as an explicitly noted patient factor. Updated clause 2a ("...the medication or purpose must be illegal..."). Re-worded Clause 2c to be more efficiently worded. Swapped Clauses 3 and 4.
Edit 6: Rephrasing of most clauses and significant improvement to the preamble thanks to verbal Feng Shui From Tinhampton