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

A/HRC/RES/41/10View 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 2019.

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 subjects

Conferences Equality Essential Drugs Health Policy Human Rights Policy Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Right to Health Vaccines

What’s in this document?

17 operative paragraphs

Recognizes that access to medicines and vaccines is one of the fundamental elements for the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the correspondent objectives of universal health coverage and health for all, without discrimination, with special attention to reaching those furthest behind first;

Stresses the responsibility of States to ensure access for all, without discrimination, to medicines and vaccines, in particular essential medicines, that are affordable, safe, effective and of quality;

Calls upon States to promote access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and vaccines for all, including through the use to the full of the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), which provide flexibility for that purpose, while recognizing that the protection of intellectual property is important for the development of new and innovative medicines and vaccines, and the concerns about its effects on prices and public health;

Also calls upon States to take steps to implement policies and plans to promote access to comprehensive and cost-effective prevention, treatment and care for the integrated management of non-communicable diseases, including, inter alia, increased access to affordable, safe, effective and quality medicines, vaccines and diagnostics and other health products, including through the full use of TRIPS Agreement provisions and flexibilities;

Reiterates the call upon States to continue to collaborate, as appropriate, on models and approaches that support the delinkage of the cost of new research and development from the prices of medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for diseases that predominantly affect developing countries, including emerging and neglected tropical diseases, so as to ensure their sustained accessibility, affordability and availability and to ensure access to treatment for all those in need;

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 access to medicines, in particular essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices and other health products that are affordable, safe, effective and of quality, and through financial and technical support, training of personnel and other capacity-building measures, while recognizing that the primary responsibility for respecting, protecting and fulfilling all human rights rests with States, while recognizing also the fundamental importance of the transfer of environmentally sound technologies on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed;

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 UNITAID, and calls upon all States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in particular the World Health Organization, and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages relevant stakeholders, including companies involved in the research and development, manufacture, importing, distribution and supply of pharmaceuticals, while safeguarding public health from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or potential conflict of interest, to further collaborate to enable equitable access to quality, safe and effective medicines and vaccines that are affordable to all, including those living in poverty, children and other persons in vulnerable situations;

Encourages engagement among Governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, philanthropic foundations and the private sector and greater policy coherence and coordinated actions through whole-of-government and Health in All Policies approaches to find solutions to health challenges, such as the need for public health-driven research and development, improved existing and alternative frameworks to adequately reward innovation, pricing and affordability of health products, and leveraging innovative technologies, including digital technologies, and solutions for health;

Encourages States, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to redouble efforts to achieve a continuous supply of quality, safe, effective and affordable health products through research and development that meets public health needs, for the efficient application and management of intellectual property standards, to carry out evidence-based selection of health products and to seek fair and affordable pricing, to adopt good procurement and supply chain management and to promote appropriate prescribing, dispensing and rational use of health products;

Recognizes the importance of adequately training the health workforce, including community health workers, and of improving health literacy in order to achieve the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and strengthen universal health coverage;

Urges all States, United Nations agencies and programmes and relevant intergovernmental organizations, especially the World Health Organization, within their respective mandates, and encourages non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, to promote innovative research and development to address health needs in developing countries, including access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and vaccines, in particular with regard to diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries, and the challenges arising from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, while taking into account the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property of the World Health Organization;

Invites the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, while considering the many ways towards the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to continue to focus on the human rights dimension of access to medicines and vaccines when discharging his or her duties, in accordance with the mandate;

Invites Member States and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedure mandate holders, national human rights institutions, civil society and the private sector, to promote policy coherence in the areas of human rights, public health, intellectual property and international trade and investment when considering access to medicines and vaccines;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

To convene, before the forty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council, a full-day intersessional seminar on good practices, key challenges and new developments relevant to access to medicines and vaccines as one of the fundamental elements of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, in coordination with the World Health Organization;

To invite States, relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedure mandate holders, national human rights institutions, civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to ensuring their participation in the seminar;

To submit to the Human Rights Council at its forty-sixth session a report, in the form of a summary, on the seminar.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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