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Home>Public Health> Access to Medicines for the People of Ecuador
Access to Medicines for the People of Ecuador
The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) fears that a new Decree will make it much more difficult to obtain affordable essential medicines in Ecuador. This Decree will have a direct negative impact on the health of millions of Ecuadorians as it deliberately seeks to limit the availability of generic medicines.
MSF has been able to study the draft text of the Decree. The Decree includes measures, such as "data exclusivity", which would effectively prevent the marketing of generic drugs in the country. It will even result in the withdrawal of generic medicines already being used by Ecuadorians.
The articles contained in this draft go far beyond the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s TRIPS Agreement. They also breach the letter and the spirit of the WTO's Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, known as the "Doha Declaration", and the 486 Decision of the Andean Community.
"If it signs this Decree, Ecuador will be adopting measures which no international treaty obligates it to do. The only purpose seems to be to protect the pharmaceutical multinationals from generic medicines, thereby endangering the health of the Ecuadorian people," says Marc Bosch, MSF Head of Mission in Ecuador. "Governments must defend their right - and obligation - to protect public health and guarantee access to essential medicines for their population."
At the IV Ministerial Conference of the WTO that took place on November 2001 in Doha, Qatar, all WTO members, including the US, unanimously adopted the Doha Declaration, which placed the protection of public health above the protection of intellectual property rights and, in particular, affirmed the right of countries to take measures when necessary to protect public health and promote access to medicines for all.
Continues................http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
 
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