Page 19 - Doha Declaration News Today

India and South Africa, backed by other developing and low-income countries, are pushing for a temporary waiver from patents and intellectual property rights for Covid-19 medicines.

One would think that talk about access to medicines and public health issues should largely be within the ambit of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The reality, however, is that important aspects of access to medicine are handled within the domain of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This is because in 1995, what we now know as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) came into force. by Percy F. Makombe Indian Ocean, pirates and seizures As the world races agains...