Dear All,
So pleased to share the great news that yesterday, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on improving the transparency of markets for medicines, vaccines and other health products in an effort to expand access. The draft resolution is on the WHA website: http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha72.html#resolutions
The resolution urges Member States to enhance public sharing of information on actual prices paid by governments and other buyers for health products, and greater transparency on pharmaceutical patents, clinical trial results and other determinants of pricing along the value chain from laboratory to patient. This is what WHO is working on with the Market Information for Access (MI4A) initiative - focusing on vaccines. https://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/procurement/v3p/platform/en/
It was great to see the enthusiasm of countries such as Brazil, the African delegation with a strong statement from Botswana, but also Hungary, Mexico, India and many others. This resolution was led by Italy and cosponsored by 18 countries across all WHO regions. It is a great step forward in helping countries making informed decisions on vaccines and medicines procurement!