GPHW2024: Overcoming Intellectual Property Barriers to Equitable Medicines Access for Pandemics

Theme: Enhancing and Democratizing Governance in Global Health

Date and Time: 9 April 2024 | 19:00-20:00 AEST

Event Description: The World Health Organization said that the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic represented a “catastrophic failure of the international community in showing solidarity and equity.” Why did we see such a failure in global cooperation, and what needs to be done to prevent the same mistakes from happening again?

COVID-19 has demonstrated the limitations of the global governance system and the intellectual property regime that shaped the global response to the pandemic. Pharmaceutical companies, supported by high-income countries seeking to be first in the vaccine queue, fought to protect intellectual property rules. This prevented greater production of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests, leading to millions of preventable deaths, particularly in the Global South.

Now, negotiations for a Pandemic Agreement and an extension of a temporary waiver of intellectual property rules are underway. But progress has been slow and there has been growing uncertainty about whether countries will reach a consensus.

Join us for a discussion with Yuan Qiong Hu (Senior Legal & Policy Advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières and intellectual property) co-hosted by the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Trade Network (AFTINET). The discussion will be led by Associate Professor Deborah Gleeson (Department of Public Health, La Trobe University) with concluding remarks from Dr Patricia Ranald (AFTINET Convenor and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney).

Event Type: Seminar / Webinar

Event Format: online

Language(s): English

Organiser(s): Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA)

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom link (will be sent after registration)

Registration: Link