Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/149985
Exports for your reference manager
Intellectual property rights and health: the constraints of WHO authority and the rise of global health governance as an element of contestation
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH
Abstract This paper links the main issues of the project "Contested World Order" (WZB, GIGA, HSFK) to the policy field of global health: the authority of the institutional setting, and the preferences and strategies of rising powers and non-state actors (NStAs) - the assumed protagonists of recent power shif... view more
This paper links the main issues of the project "Contested World Order" (WZB, GIGA, HSFK) to the policy field of global health: the authority of the institutional setting, and the preferences and strategies of rising powers and non-state actors (NStAs) - the assumed protagonists of recent power shifts. The first part discusses the loss of WHO authority since the rise of Global Health Governance, and WHO's fight to reassert its position. The core of the paper deals with the conflict on intellectual property rights (IPRs) and access to medicines as a central issue in global health. Between 1995 and 2005, civil society organizations (CSOs) and some emerging powers fought successfully for improving access conditions under the TRIPS agreement (Doha Declaration). WHO's activities to regain the initiative led to the adoption of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (2008) (GSPoA). Chapter 4 analyses the role of NStAs and rising powers (notably BRICS) during negotiations on implementing GSPoA. While CSOs insisted on a binding R&D treaty, BRICS countries finally agreed to more modest results. They support the welfare-orientation and the intergovernmental character of WHO but without seriously challenging basic rules in the global economy. Finally, consensus within WHO was restraint to issues which did not touch the basic IPR framework.... view less
Keywords
social actor; authority; right of ownership; WHO; health; medicine
Classification
International Relations, International Politics, Foreign Affairs, Development Policy
Health Policy
Free Keywords
GSPoA; rising powers; Zugang zu Medikamenten; global health governance; iintellektuelle Eigentumsrechte; nicht-staatliche Akteure
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
City
Berlin
Page/Pages
57 p.
Series
Discussion Papers / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Internationale Politik und Recht, Abteilung Global Governance, SP IV 2016-110
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/149985
Status
Published Version; reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications