"We propose the following as a replacement to GA №41 “Access To Life-Saving Drugs”, which our delegation hopes to repeal.
"This draft aims to rectify the issues which our delegation has with GA №41, namely its lack of instruction as to how the WHA ought to navigate the procurement of drugs from non-WA nations and the fact that it provided to mechanism for the WHA to ensure that an adequate supply of given medications was available or being manufactured.
"We believe that our draft corrects these omissions while retaining the valuable aspects of GA №41's mandates.
"Critiques or suggestions for improvement are more than welcome as we hope to improve to the greatest possible degree the standard of healthcare to which the WHA strives to attain.''
-M. Wyrzykowski, Ambassador to the World Assembly, The North Polish Union
Category: Social Justice
Strength: Significant
The World Assembly,
PLEASED by the fact that medical knowledge and pharmaceutical science have, in many places, advanced to the point where some of the deadliest illnesses known can be treated or cured, often leading to dramatic increases in both life expectancy and quality of life;
ACKNOWLEDGING that in many nations the development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceuticals are for-profit enterprises, for better or for worse;
OBSERVING that because of this, often impoverished nations and populations often are unable to bear the costs associated with such development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceuticals and must therefore wait for long periods of time before they are able to benefit from new drugs and medications;
DECLARING that no individual should die from any treatable disease as a result of their financial inability to afford the necessary medication for such treatment;
BELIEVING that the WA has both an interest and duty in ensuring the right of individuals within its member-states to receive life-saving medicines, and by extension balancing the above-mentioned economic motivations with such rights;
MANDATES the following:
- The WA shall direct the World Health Authority (WHA) to allocate part of its budget for the purchase and distribution of life-saving medications for impoverished member states and populations. The WHA shall negotiate with any relevant stakeholders to agree to a price that strikes a reasonable balance between the financial well-being of drug manufacturers and the WA’s budget. The WHA shall also be authorized to negotiate, as necessary, for increases in the production volume of needed life-saving pharmaceuticals.
- The WHA shall be authorized to temporarily waive and appropriate patents and other intellectual property needed for the manufacture of life-saving medications. Such waivers shall only be implemented for as short a time as necessary, only in extreme situations such as major public health catastrophes, and only after all other venues of negotiation have been exhausted. In case of such a waiver patent holders shall receive financial compensation as determined following a prompt and thorough audit performed by the WA Trade Commission and WA General Accounting Office.
- Because the fact that non-WA nations outnumber WA members severalfold means that life-saving medications may only be patented in non-members, the WHA shall be authorized to enter into clause (a) negotiations with pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in non-WA nations for drugs where no analogous medication exists in any member state. In the interest of ensuring the greatest possible degree of cooperation between the WA and non-members, the WHA shall not under any circumstances attempt to enforce clause (b) against pharmaceutical manufacturers in non-members.
- The WHA shall allocate part of its budget to identifying and researching illnesses which disproportionately impact poor nations and populations, as well as lethal illnesses for which there is not yet a known cure. Any medications for such diseases discovered by the WHA because of this research shall be public domain and appropriate standards for large-scale production shall be promulgated.
- No part of the funding for the application of this legislation shall come from private donations as these may create the appearance of bias or corruption. The WHA shall not hinder or prevent private charitable organizations or NGOs from researching or distributing life-saving medications, but all such private philanthropy must be done outside the WA’s organizational framework.
