Health equity in economic and trade policies

The regulation of health technologies is a critical component of every country’s public health system and ensures that high-quality, safe health technologies reach the people who need them most. To harness momentum for regulatory harmonization, the Pan-African Parliament, New Partnership for African Development, and African Union Commission spearheaded the development of the African Union Model Law on Medical Products Regulation, which guides member states and regional economic communities in harmonizing regulatory systems and providing an enabling environment for the development and scale-up of health technologies. This paper outlines the measures for implementation of the law.

As international development strategies struggle to address issues of human insecurity and socioeconomic inequality, inspiring alternatives are taking shape outside the traditional development discourse. The author argues that locating development strategies within the current neoliberal capitalist framework limits the possibility of success of development goals and strategies, largely designed by 'the North' and argued to be rarely successful in 'the South'. The author argues that these have potential to transform development policy in the South. This article discusses well-being economics, questioning the notion that high income and consumption constitutes genuine wealth, noting that income contributes up to the point of satisfying basic needs, after which human well-being is argued to rest on supporting the development of human potentialities through meaningful livelihoods, strengthening social relations and promoting ways of life in harmony with nature. She argues that this is being applied in the political philosophy of “buen vivir” (living well) in selected Latin American social movements and states to guide a development policy that is more inclusive of human security and their environments. The paper explores the manner in which the concept puts improvement of the quality of life, capacities and potential of the population and its harmonious coexistence with nature at the centre of the economic system, within constitutions, policies in selected countries and in relation to their impact.

In a statement People's Health Movement (PHM) and Medicus Mundi International (MMI) pointed out the weaknesses of the draft roadmap established by the WHO for an enhanced global response to the adverse health effects of air pollution. In it, they argue that this draft misses an analysis of the current economic and trade-related rules that would prevent the establishment of a robust plan of action. PHM and MMI see serious barriers for the transfer to clean technologies due to the continuing pressure for higher levels of intellectual property protection and investor state dispute settlements in trade agreements. PHM and MMI urge member states to insist on a more strategic and focused approach to the social and economic determinants of air pollution and to address these fundamental issues.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) Report 2015 focuses on the transformation of rural economies. Assessing LDCs’ progress in agricultural productivity, the extent and nature of their rural economic diversification, and gender issues in rural transformation, it shows that agricultural productivity began to increase in LDCs in 2000, following decades of stagnation or decline, but has risen strongly only in Asian LDCs. The report also shows that rural economic diversification varies widely between LDCs, but only a few have passed beyond the stage in which non-farm activities are centred on agriculture, and that urban linkages are limited. Further, the report highlights that women comprise half the rural workforce in LDCs, but face serious constraints on realising their productive potential, slowing rural transformation. The 2030 Agenda both highlights the need and provides the opportunity for a new approach to rural development centred on poverty-oriented structural transformation (POST), to generate higher incomes backed by higher productivity. In rural areas, this means upgrading agriculture, developing viable non-farm activities, and fully exploiting the synergies between the two, through appropriately designed and sequenced efforts to achieve the SDGs. The Report argues that differentiation is needed between peri-urban, intermediate, remote and isolated rural areas and a key priority is to overcome the contradiction between need and opportunity, by which more remote areas and poorer households have the greatest need but also the most limited opportunities for income diversification. Gender-specific measures are needed to overcome disadvantages arising directly from gender norms, and more inclusive gender-sensitive approaches to address their poverty-related consequences. Access to appropriate technologies, inputs, skills and affordable finance needs to be fostered. Effective policy coordination is required nationally, while producers’ associations, cooperatives and women’s networks can play a key role locally. Innovative approaches to trade and cross-border investment could make a substantial contribution. Finally, the report highlights the importance of adequate support from the international community to achieve structural transformation and fulfil the SDGs, based on the principle that “to will the end is to will the means”.