2019 HRC Resolution on access to medicines and vaccines

HRC 41st ses­sion
2019-07-11

Res­o­lu­tion A/HRC/RES/41/10

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Analysis of precedential value

This UN Human Rights Coun­cil (HRC) res­o­lu­tion was adopted with­out a vote in July 2019. This doc­u­ment was co-drafted by rep­re­sen­ta­tives of 27 Mem­ber States, 13 of which were not mem­bers of the sit­ting HRC.
The HRC is com­posed of elected rep­re­sen­ta­tives from 47 Mem­ber States; together, they are respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing inves­ti­ga­tions of and responses to human rights vio­la­tions.

Used as precedent

access to health products, pharmaceutical transparency

• “Reaf­firm­ing the impor­tance of improv­ing the trans­parency of mar­kets for med­i­cines, vac­cines and other health prod­ucts across the whole value chain, and tak­ing into con­sid­er­a­tion res­o­lu­tion WHA72.8 adopted by the World Health Assem­bly at its sev­enty-sec­ond ses­sion” (p. 2)

access to health products

• “Seri­ously con­cerned about the high prices of some health prod­ucts and the inequitable access within and among Mem­ber States, as well as the finan­cial hard­ships asso­ci­ated with high prices, which impede progress towards achiev­ing uni­ver­sal health cov­er­age for all” (pp. 2–3)

• “Express­ing deep con­cern at recent out­breaks of highly infec­tious pathogens with pan­demic poten­tial, which demon­strate the poten­tial vul­ner­a­bil­ity of pop­u­la­tions to them, and in this con­text reaf­firm­ing and under­scor­ing the impor­tance of research into and devel­op­ment of new and inno­v­a­tive med­i­cines and vac­cines and of ensur­ing access to safe, afford­able, effec­tive and qual­ity med­i­cines and vac­cines to all, includ­ing new and inno­v­a­tive med­i­cines, and of build­ing and/or strength­en­ing health sys­tem capac­i­ties, includ­ing pri­mary health care, for detect­ing, pre­vent­ing and respond­ing in a timely man­ner to out­breaks, epi­demics, pan­demics and other health emer­gen­cies” (p. 4)

access to health products, universal health coverage

• “Rec­og­niz­ing that uni­ver­sal health cov­er­age implies that all peo­ple have access with­out dis­crim­i­na­tion to nation­ally deter­mined sets of needed pro­mo­tive, pre­ven­tive, cura­tive, pal­lia­tive and reha­bil­i­ta­tive essen­tial health-care ser­vices, and essen­tial, safe, afford­able, effec­tive and qual­ity med­i­cines and vac­cines, while ensur­ing that the use of these ser­vices does not expose users to finan­cial hard­ship, with spe­cial empha­sis on the poor, vul­ner­a­ble and mar­gin­al­ized seg­ments of the pop­u­la­tion” (p. 3)

access to health products

• “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;” (p. 4)

• “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” (p. 4)

• “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” (p. 4)

• “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” (p. 4)

access to health products, alternative r&d models

• “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” (p. 4)