New Delhi: Countries negotiating a global declaration on tuberculosis are under pressure to give up their rights to use existing provisions in world trade laws to provide affordable second-line and new anti-TB drugs to their populations, an international humanitarian agency said on Friday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said the US was "exerting extreme pressure" on other negotiators by refusing to sign the declaration if it retained text that "recognises the importance of affordable medicines" and "urges countries to enforce intellectual property rules to promote access".
The declaration is scheduled for release at the first-ever high-level United Nations meeting on TB in September this year. It is meant to serve as a pledge to accelerate the efforts to eliminate the infection.
The World Health Organisation’s "End TB strategy" seeks to reduce the number of new TB cases worldwide by 80 per cent by 2030. India’s health ministry has announced its own national strategic plan, which seeks to reduce the incidence of TB in India by 80 per cent by 2025.
Analysts tracking the negotiations over the draft declaration in New York said the Group of 77 bloc of developing countries was under pressure to drop the references to flexibilities and safeguards in a global trade pact that can help facilitate access to affordable medicines.
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