63rd World Health Assembly – outcomes and resolutions

The 63rd World Health Assembly concluded at the end of last week, with delegates adopting proposed resolutions on a number of global health issues, including:

Counterfeit medical products
The World Health Assembly resolved that the WHO should convene an intergovernmental working group on counterfeit medical products, participation in which is to be open to all Member States.

This group will examine WHO’s:

• role in ensuring availability of good-quality, safe, efficacious and affordable medicines
• relationship with the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT)
• role in prevention and control of substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit medical products.

The group’s mandate is to focus on public health issues only – IP and trade issues will not be considered. Recommendations will be presented at the 64th World Health Assembly, in 2011.

Treatment and prevention of pneumonia
WHO Member States adopted a resolution on the treatment and prevention of pneumonia — the number one killer of children under five years globally. The resolution makes it clear that intensified efforts to address pneumonia are imperative if the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4 is to be achieved.

Polio
On the topic of polio eradication, Member States welcomed the new Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Strategic Plan 2010-2012, developed over the past 24 months at the request of the Assembly.  The delegates expressed serious concern that insufficient financing for the new Plan is compromising its full implementation, as US$1.3 billion is still needed for the period 2010-2012.

Global eradication of measles
Member States endorsed a series of interim targets set for 2015 as milestones towards the eventual global eradication of measles.  Success in achieving the measles 2015 targets is a key issue if the Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce child mortality is to be reached.

Public health, innovation and intellectual property: global strategy and plan for action
A new consultative working group will examine the way to take this work forward and is expected to report back to the 65th Health Assembly in 2012.

Discussions on other global health issues at the 63rd WHA were summarized in a previous Patients and Patents posting.

Additional information on the resolutions is available at the World Health Organization site.

Billion dollar boost for US biotech

The US government has created a tax credit system worth $1 billion to “provide an immediate boost to US biomedical research and the small businesses that conduct it.”

The scheme is open to companies who have 250 employees or fewer and there will be a maximum credit of $5 million per firm. Created under the Affordable Care Act, the scheme is targeted to projects that “show significant potential to produce new therapies, address unmet medical needs, reduce the long‐ term growth of healthcare costs and advance the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years.”

(As reported by PharmaTimes)

63rd WHA – update on discussions

The sixty-third World Health Assembly is coming to a close later today.  Some of the key issues raised at this year’s meeting included progress towards the Millenium Development Goals, counterfeit medicines, prevention of non-communicable diseases and the Global Strategy on public health, innovation and intellectual property.  The following is a brief overview from these discussions.

Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)

Experts from WHO, member countries and the Global Fund provided a progress update on the health-related MDGs and highlighted key challenges remaining.

Noting the impact of the financial crisis on health, participants emphasized the importance of sustaining investments in health.

Speakers highlighted the need for better coordination of funding mechanisms, global financing aligning with local priorities and national health plans, and mutual accountability for both the donors and the receiving governments.

Participants called for renewed action to achieve the health-MDGs.

Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

NCDs cause 60% of all deaths worldwide, with 80% occurring in low and middle-income countries.

Noncommunicable diseases – mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes – kill nearly 35 million people per year. Almost 90% of fatalities before the age of 60 occur in developing countries and are largely preventable.

Highlighted the changing health profiles of countries and the need to focus attention on the emerging priority of NCDs and their burden on the population and health care spending.

Counterfeit Medicines

The proliferation of potentially lethal or harmful counterfeit medicines has been on the rise, particularly with the increased usage of the Internet worldwide.

WHO will not drop use of the term ‘counterfeit’ to describe fake medicines despite generic producing nations complaints about possible confusion over the term.

“With substandard medicines, drug regulatory authorities know who to go to when a quality problem is discovered,” said Hans Hogerzeil, the director of the WHO programme on Medicines Policy and Standards. “But with counterfeit, false or fake medicines the identity of the producer is not known, and they easily cross national borders, so normal regulatory approaches cannot be used.”

“Every honest industry is interested in stopping this,” said Hogerzeil, as is every government because counterfeiting harms both patients and the legitimacy of the health system.”

Public health, innovation and intellectual property

Delegates discussed a global strategy and plans of action for public health, innovation and intellectual property. The debate focused on financing issues, including the rational use of funds, and conducting research through regional networks.

The item will be taken up for discussion later in the week.

Global eradication of measles

Approximately 20 delegates took the floor and endorsed targets set for 2015 as milestones towards the eventual global eradication of measles.

Success in achieving the measles 2015 targets is essential if the MDG 4 – reduce child mortality – is to be reached.

Food Safety

Many countries noted that diseases can be caused by unsafe food, that national food production systems are susceptible food safety problems and that more food is traded across borders then ever before.

WHO was encouraged to continue working directly with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to strengthen public health, support economic development, and continue joint risk assessments through WHO/FAO expert bodies, and establish standards through the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.

WHO – Counterfeit drugs on the rise, pose global threat

As reported yesterday by Reuters (Counterfeit drugs on rise, pose global threat: WHO), World Health Officials warned that the production and sale of counterfeit drugs is on the rise in rich and poor countries, with more unwary consumers buying them over the Internet.

The WHO experts added that fake or substandard versions of medicines are often hidden in cargos taking circuitous routes to mask their country of origin as part of criminal activity worth billions.

India’s Fake Drugs – commentary from the WSJ

The following is an interesting commentary published in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal on the threat to global health posed by counterfeit medicines.  Counterfeit medicines are a global problem, but this article focuses on India.

India’s Fake Drugs Are a Real Problem
Bad drugs don’t just threaten lives, they undermine the entire medical system

Opinion by Roger Bate

The Food and Drug Administration of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh recently conducted a series of raids throughout its region to uncover counterfeit drugs. The raids yielded large quantities of substandard medicines and resulted in several arrests.

WHO begins 63rd World Health Assembly – focus on disease prevention, MDGs and patient safety

Sixty-third World Health Assembly

Date: 17–21 May 2010
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

The 63rd session of the World Health Assembly began today in Geneva and will continue through to the 21 st of May. At this session, the Health Assembly will discuss a number of technical and public health issues, including:

• Monitoring of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals;
• Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases;
• Implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005);
• Public health, innovation and intellectual property:  global strategy and plan of action;
• WHO’s role and responsibilities in health research;
• Infant and young child nutrition; and
• Counterfeit medical products.

The Health Assembly will also discuss the programme budget, administration and management matters of WHO.

Source:  from Global Health Progress

Patient safety and counterfeit medicines

Discussions around counterfeit medicines – and the definition thereof — are heating up again prior to the start of the World Health Assembly.  While this has become a contentious issue, all sides can agree that counterfeit medicines pose a global public health risk, leading to resistance to treatment, illness, disability and even death.

A series of principles on counterfeit medicines were recently released by IFPMA to refocus attention on this important public health issue.  Key points included:

• Medicine counterfeiting is first and foremost a crime against patients.
• Counterfeit medicines threaten the full spectrum of legitimate medicines.
• Government regulatory and enforcement authorities must be fully vested with the proper power and adequately resourced to fight counterfeits.
• Global cooperation is needed.
• The leadership of the World Health Organization is crucial.

Stopping the international trade in counterfeit medicines is vital.   As the leader on global health matters, and particularly with respect to threats to public health in developing countries, the World Health Organization has a key role to play.

The bottom line is that patients – in developed and developing countries – need to be protected.

Progress in Health: a WHO report on health-related MDGs

The World Health Organization recently released a progress report towards the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals.  Highlights of progress (all goals and targets are measured in terms of progress since 1990) include:

• Fewer children are dying. Annual global deaths of children under five years of age fell to 8.8 million in 2008 – down by 30% since 1990.
• Fewer children are underweight. The percentage of underweight children under five years old is estimated to have dropped from 25% in 1990 to 16% in 2010.
• More women get skilled help during childbirth. The proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker has increased globally, however, in the WHO Africa and South-East Asia regions fewer than 50% of all births were attended.
• Fewer people are contracting HIV. New HIV infections have declined by 16% globally from 2001–2008.
• Tuberculosis treatment is more successful. Existing cases of TB are declining, along with deaths among HIV-negative TB cases.
• More people have safe drinking-water, but not enough have toilets. The world is on track to achieve the MDG target on access to safe drinking-water but more needs to be done to achieve the sanitation target.

Access to biotechnology in the developing world: a new policy statement from BIO

BIO, the world’s largest biotechnology organization, announced a new policy on options for increasing access to medicines in the developing world earlier this week.

BIO’s President stated that their “members recognize the significant unmet health needs that are prevalent in the developing world.  While many of our hundreds of members are taking , or have taken, individual steps to address this challenge, they recognize that more can and should be done.”

Download the full policy statement to read more.

World Asthma Day

Today – May 4^th, 2010 – is World Asthma Day.

World Asthma Day is an annual event to improve asthma awareness and care around the world.  The theme of this year’s event is “You Can Control Your Asthma.”  World Asthma Day takes place annually on the first Tuesday of May.

In recognition of the Day, the Asthma Society of Canada (ASC) launched an interactive, virtual tool for people living with asthma and associated allergies, to stay informed on important issues and information needed to plan outdoor activities.

The AsthmaToday Widget can be downloaded to a computer or laptop to gain instant access to the local Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), available for a number of Canadian cities, as well as local weather forecasts and relative humidity. The AsthmaToday Widget also provides the latest news updates from the ASC on programs, educational materials and research, including developments on advocacy initiatives from the ASC’s National Asthma Patient Alliance (NAPA).