Lostisland submitted an input to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in response to the call for inputs titled “Key Challenges in Ensuring Access to Medicines, Vaccines and other Health Products (HRC resolution 50/13).”
The call for inputs is intended to inform the OHCHR’s analytical study as requested by Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, which mandates the preparation of a study on the key challenges in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products. This analytical study is to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-sixth session in June 2024.
Lostisland submission to the OHCHR highlights the various challenges faced in ensuring equitable access to medicines, vaccines, and other health products. It emphasizes the need for international cooperation and partnerships to address these challenges and promote global health equity.
Key points from the submission include:
- Access to essential health products is a fundamental human right, yet various barriers persist, disproportionately affecting vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Legal and regulatory challenges, such as complex patent laws and strict data exclusivity periods, hinder the accessibility and affordability of medicines, vaccines, and other health products.
- The traditional pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) model, often driven by profit-driven motives, can lead to disparities in access and the neglect of diseases affecting underserved populations.
- The rise of digital technologies, while offering potential benefits, can also exacerbate disparities due to unequal access to infrastructure and digital literacy.
- The main challenges in international cooperation include intellectual property rights, lack of a global framework for equitable distribution, geopolitical tensions, and capacity-building and technology transfer obstacles.
The submission emphasizes the need for:
- International cooperation and advocacy for equitable licensing and technology transfer.
- Exploration of alternative R&D models that prioritize public health objectives and promote open science and collaboration.
- Strategies to address the digital divide and ensure inclusive implementation of digital health technologies.
- A comprehensive global framework for equitable distribution and production of health products.