India has played a crucial role in supporting South Africa, as a lead co-sponsor in bringing the TRIPS Waiver proposal to the WTO in October 2020. In the months since, more than 60 other WTO members have formally supported the proposal – a bold initiative that seeks to temporarily suspend a range of intellectual property protections in order to decisively respond to the pandemic by seeking to unblock production shortages for critical COVID-19 medical products. As these discussions reach a critical juncture ahead of the WTO ministerial in November this year, concerns have been expressed on India’s commitment to the waiver proposal. … Continue reading Where does India truly stand on the TRIPS Waiver: Q&A with Murali Neelakantan

WHO: New consortium working to boost vaccine production in South Africa: MPP, WHO, AFRIGEN, BIOVAC, SAMRC, and Africa CDC sign a letter of intent towards establishing the tech transfer hub in South Africa “The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and the World Health Organization (WHO),  Afrigen Biologics (PTY) Limited, the Biologicals and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa  (Biovac), the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have signed a letter of intent to address the global imbalance of manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines.” The letter of intent sets out the terms of the collaboration and responsibilities between … Continue reading The many promises of the mRNA tech transfer hub in Africa

EU-led plans for pushing through with the setting up of an inter-governmental body to undertake negotiations for a pandemic treaty have been soured by unwillingness on the part of a few member states of WHO including US, Mexico, Brazil and Russia, among others, according to diplomatic sources in Geneva. As this story went to print, countries were locked in consultations on a decision text which if approved by the World Health Assembly would kick start the process for negotiations towards a treaty. It is not clear whether countries were likely to reach a consensus on these discussions before the start … Continue reading Spanner in the works for a pandemic treaty: The U.S., Brazil & Russia Converge to Oppose EU plans at WHO, Discussions Continue

The governance of global health has changed in radical ways just in the last 12 months. But potentially lasting changes, some would argue long predicted, are defining new ways of financing which may alter the governance in ways that directly run counter to the very goals of public health. These have been normalized and adopted without adequate consultation of member states of WHO, and despite concerns raised by stakeholders in the civil society. The new WHO Foundation, a non-profit legal entity that has been established to fundraise for WHO might have already caused conflicts of interest arising over recent donations … Continue reading “A hole in the firewall”: The WHO Foundation & WHO

The rules on how information on pathogens and genetic sequences will be shared could be determined under a proposed pandemic treaty. This is important because even though countries may share physical samples of pathogens and genetic sequence data, they could be excluded from having access to vaccines and diagnostics developed based on this information without binding commitments on benefits sharing. COVID-19 shows us, this has happened. Leaders from more than 25 different countries have rallied behind the idea of a pandemic treaty, and want a new instrument to be negotiated under the Constitution of the World Health Organization. They hope that the … Continue reading Pathogens-Sharing & The Pandemic Treaty: The Commercial Link