The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health in the Context of Development and Access to Medicines

A/HRC/RES/17/14View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2011.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Development Aspects Mental Health Pharmaceuticals Right to Health

What’s in this document?

24 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the annual report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;²

²A/HRC/17/25.

Recognizes the progressive realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as one of the central aspects of the process of development, as reflected in health-related internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Millennium Development Goals;

Calls upon the international community to continue to assist developing countries in promoting the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including through financial and technical support and training of personnel, while recognizing that the primary responsibility for promoting and protecting all human rights rests with States;

Encourages States:

To integrate the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health into development strategies, particularly with respect to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, recognizing, in that regard, the critical role of strengthening health systems;

To ensure that information on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is widely promoted, particularly in development-related areas, including through transparency, accountability and the participation of individuals and communities;

Encourages relevant United Nations programmes and agencies, in particular the World Health Organization, within their mandates, to pay particular attention to the impact of development programmes on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including through the collection and sharing of good practices and the strengthening of national capacities;

Takes note of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the expert consultation on access to medicines as a fundamental component of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, held on 11 October 2010;³

³A/HRC/17/43.

Encourages States:

To implement or, where they do not exist, to establish national health frameworks that ensure access for all, without discrimination, to medicines that are affordable, safe, effective and of good quality;

To raise awareness about the responsible use of medicines, including through the wide dissemination of information in that regard, taking into account the potential risks to health;

To ensure that investment, industrial or other policies promote development and access to medicines, in particular their affordability;

To promote the transparent and informed participation of relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, in formulating national medicines policies and programmes;

To strengthen or, where they do not exist, to establish national monitoring and accountability mechanisms for policies relating to access to medicines;

To ensure that procurement practices and procedures for medicines are transparent, fair and competitive;

To promote access to medicines for all, including through the use, to the full, of the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which provide flexibility for that purpose, recognizing that the protection of intellectual property is important for the development of new medicines as well as the concerns about its effects on prices;

To foster the development of technology and the voluntary transfer of technology to developing countries on mutually agreed terms aligned with national priorities;

To apply measures and procedures for enforcing intellectual property rights in such a manner as to avoid creating barriers to the legitimate trade of affordable, safe, effective and good-quality medicines, and to provide for safeguards against the abuse of such measures and procedures;

To strengthen or, where they do not exist, to establish national health regulatory systems that ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines;

To promote the improvement of health infrastructures necessary for access to affordable, safe, effective and good-quality medicines, such as storage and distribution systems;

Recognizes the innovative funding mechanisms that contribute to the availability of vaccines and medicines in developing countries, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance and the International Drug Purchase Facility, UNITAID, and calls upon all States, United Nations programmes and agencies, in particular the World Health Organization, and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages relevant stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, to further collaborate to enable equitable access to good-quality, safe and efficacious medicines that are affordable to all, including those living in poverty, children and other vulnerable groups;

Urges all States, United Nations agencies and programmes and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders, to promote the innovative development, the availability and the affordability of new drugs for diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries;

Emphasizes the central role of prevention, particularly through the promotion of healthy lifestyles and through the strengthening of health systems, as part of a comprehensive approach to communicable and non-communicable diseases, and urges all States, United Nations agencies and programmes and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, to promote innovative research and development, the availability and affordability of safe, effective and good-quality medicines for non-communicable diseases, and to address the challenges arising from the growing burden of such diseases;

Requests the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health to prepare, in consultation with States Members of the United Nations, United Nations agencies and programmes, international and non-governmental organizations, and relevant stakeholders, a study on existing challenges with regard to access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, ways to overcome them and good practices, to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-third session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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