PPD :: Declarations

We, the Partners in Population and Development (PPD), having consulted with other developing countries, NGOs, international agencies, and pharmaceutical entrepreneurs:

that our countries comprise more than half of the world’s population and bear the largest proportion of reproductive health morbidity and mortality including those affecting maternal and childhood conditions and preventable diseases including HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB;

that a majority of these deaths though preventable, occur due to the lack of access to essential health commodities which are safe and low cost;

that the health of people living in developing countries is further aggravated by the growing need for essential health commodities, and that research and development capacity and investment is inaccessible for many health conditions faced by the poor;

of the limited capacities of some of our member countries in matters related to production of essential health commodities;

our previous commitments on essential health commodity security,
as reflected in the Partners Beijing Declaration of the 6^th Annual Board Meeting held in November 2000, the Alma Ata declaration of 1978, the revised drug strategy adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1986, the ICPD+5 key actions in 1999, the concerns expressed in the reports of the UNFPA call to action 2001, the conclusions at the UNLDC Conference in Brussels in May 2001, the Abuja Declaration in April 2001, the Istanbul Declaration of May 2001;

the importance of appropriate Southern representation in the governance of global health funds and initiatives, paying due attention to sustainable solutions to strengthen health systems and human resources within developing countries;

the forthcoming 26^th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly, on the HIV/AIDS pandemic from 25 to 27 June 2001, as critical opportunity to strengthen co-operation between governments, multilateral and bilateral donors, financial organizations and civil society;

Partners proposition to contribute to collaborative and interdependent efforts, that increase self reliance among developing countries on an equitable basis, with respect to availability, production, affordability, accessibility, use of essential health commodities, research and development as intrinsic components of human right to health;

that the TRIPS Agreement can and should be interpreted and utilized in a manner that allows countries to protect and promote policies for ensuring adequate availability of essential medicines at affordable prices and that nothing in the said Agreement should prevent countries from taking measures to protect and promote public health;

adopt and implement policies to ensure collective self-sufficiency in availability and affordability of essential health commodities required for the basic needs of our people,
promote the use of national essential drug lists which largely contain generic products by using effective means to motivate health providers in the public and private sectors to prescribe generic medicines and drugs rationally,
support the growing concerns in the international community to introduce amendments in international patents and trade agreements to enable developing countries to produce and import high quality medicines at affordable prices,
actively support South-South trade and development policies aimed at achieving an affordable and sustained supply of essential health commodities,
strengthen collaborative mechanisms between members and other states within the sphere of influence to harmonize standards of good manufacturing practices, quality assurance and regulations for fast track review and registration of commodities,
support demand generation to ensure informed choices to clients,
engage in strategies to reduce costs for developing countries, wherever practicable, include pooled and or bulk procurement and compulsory licensing,

focus and increase resource allocation for research, technology transfer and development of affordable, safe and easy-to-use essential commodities,

assist each other and relevant stakeholders in the development of data bases which are regularly updated, on supply and demand and cost of essential health commodities so as to facilitate trade among member countries,
establish a core group within the Secretariat to monitor the developments in WTO and the related GATS negotiations;

our thanks and gratitude to the Government of India and particularly to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the State Government of Kerala for hosting this technical consultation.