A MEETING OF MINDS World Health Assembly reaches agreement on influenza-virus sharing, intellectual property
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), wrapped up its 60th session with last-minute agreement on two key resolutions on pandemic-influenza preparedness and public health, innovation, and intellectual property. More than 2,400 delegates from 193 member states, representatives of nongovernment organizations, and other observers attended the meeting, which took place from May 14 to 23. The assembly approved the largest-ever budget for the United Nations health agency and adopted a record number of resolutions on public-health issues and on its technical and administrative work. Member states agreed a resolution that will help all countries better prepare for the global public-health threat that an influenza pandemic presents. The resolution, "Sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits," restates the general principles of the necessity of sharing both in the preparations for an influenza pandemic and the benefits that will flow from improved international cooperation and preparation, such as greater quantities of and equitable access to H5N1 and pandemic vaccines. In her closing remarks, Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO director general, told the delegates: "All countries need to be aware of their obligations under the revised International Health Regulations (IHR). When collective security is at stake, public opinion can carry great weight. After very considerable discussion, you have adopted a resolution on the sharing of influenza viruses and access to pandemic vaccines and other benefits. I want to underscore the importance of this decision. My responsibilities in implementing the IHR depend on this sharing." The resolution requests the WHO to establish an international stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 or other influenza viruses of pandemic potential, and to formulate mechanisms and guidelines aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of pandemic-influenza vaccines at affordable prices in the event of a pandemic. It also tasks an interdisciplinary working group with drawing up new terms of reference (TORs) for the WHO Influenza Collaborating Center Network (ICCN) and its H5 reference laboratories for the sharing of influenza viruses. The new TORs will take into account the origin of influenza viruses going into the WHO ICCN, and will make their use more transparent. Once finalized, these TORs will be submitted to a special intergovernmental meeting of member states and regional economic organizations. The assembly reached a last-minute agreement on public health, innovation, and intellectual property. The resolution expressed appreciation to the director general for her commitment to the process of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the issue and encouraged her to guide the process to draw up a global strategy and plan of action. The resolution also requested the director general to provide technical and policy support to countries. "I am fully committed to this process and have noted your desire to move forward faster.... We must make a tremendous effort. We know our incentive: the prevention of large numbers of needless deaths and suffering," said Chan. The assembly also endorsed the Global Plan of Action on Workers' Health, which aims to device policy instruments on workers' health, protect and promote health at the workplace, improve the performance of and access to occupational health services, provide and communicate evidence for preventive action, and incorporate workers' health into other policies. During this year's opening plenary, the UN declared the Palais des Nations a smoke-free environment indoors, recognizing the major contribution of tobacco use to noncommunicable diseases and preventable, premature death. A progress report to the assembly described noncommunicable-disease (NCD) activities in advocacy, surveillance, and population-based prevention since the year 2000. A resolution urges member states to strengthen national efforts in NCD prevention and control and calls for an action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs to be presented to the 61st WHO in 2008. The assembly also approved a 2008 to 2009 budget of US$4.2 billion, an increase of nearly US $1 billion from the US $3.3 billion approved for 2006 to 2007. The new budget highlights the continued trend of increased investment in global public health. For the WHO it means being able to provide more support to countries, in close collaboration with UN and other partners. For the first time, this budget is part of a six-year strategic plan for the organization, which member states also adopted at the assembly.
The assembly adopted several other resolutions that seek to: o Intensify access to affordable, safe, and effective antimalarial combination treatments, to intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancies, to insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and indoor residual spraying for malaria control with suitable and safe insecticide. Member states requested that donors adjust their policies so as to progressively cease to fund the provision and distribution of oral artemisinin monotherapies, and to join in campaigns to prohibit the marketing, distribution, and use of counterfeit antimalarial medicines. o Develop and implement long-term plans for tuberculosis prevention and control, in line with the WHO Stop TB Strategy. The resolution aims to accelerate the progress toward halving TB deaths and prevalence by 2015 through the full implementation of the Global Plan to Stop TB, 2006 to 2015. o Step up efforts of member states to eradicate polio swiftly while taking steps to minimize the risk of its international spread. Stressing the financial and humanitarian gains to be made from completing eradication and the ongoing dividends of the highly developed polio infrastructure, Cham said presented the Case for Completing Polio Eradication, outlining a clear justification for the international donor community to rapidly fill a global funding gap of US$540 million for 2007 to 2008. Insufficient funding is currently imperiling the 20-year US$5.3 billion international effort. o Integrate gender analysis and actions into the work of WHO, demonstrating the importance member states place on including gender perspectives such as disaggregation of data based on sex in all publications and reports. o Ensure better medicines for children, requesting the director general to undertake a program of work to improve access to essential medicines for children. This year, the WHO will develop a Model List of Essential Medicines for Children, as well as evidence-based medicines information for prescribers and caregivers, and identify key research and development requirements for producing better medicines for children. o Urge member states to draw up national guidelines and plans for the assessment, procurement, and management of technologies used in health care. o Promote rational use of medicines and the establishment of an integrated, health systems approach to promoting more appropriate use of medicines, specifically, national multidisciplinary bodies to monitor medicines use and promote rational use. o Increase investment in and strengthen efforts toward health promotion as the cornerstone of primary health care and a core function of public health. o Draws the attention of governments to the need to strengthen emergency-care systems, including mass-casualty-management efforts. o Strengthen health-information systems and enhance the WHO's work on health statistics in general. Member states called on the director general to strengthen the information and evidence culture of the WHO itself and ensure the use of accurate and timely health statistics to generate evidence for major policy decisions and recommendations within the WHO. o Reiterate the importance of a coherent research strategy that will help to disseminate the outcomes of research and its utilization in decision- and policy-making for more effective health policies. o Review all research undertaken on the variola virus, which causes smallpox and for the results to be presented to the 64th World Health Assembly in 2011. o Provide advice and technical support for strengthening oral-health programs at country, regional, and global levels, in collaboration with other UN organizations, WHO collaborating centers and NGOs. M WHO Press Office |
