Non-governmental organisations have expressed their satisfaction at the European Commission’s (EC’s) declaration that it would not put ‘undue pressure’ on African and other countries to conclude the controversial trade deals called economic partnership agreements (EPAs). ‘We are very satisfied that the campaign has been able to convince many people that the EPAs don’t lead to development and that the ACP countries have to be given time,’ Marc Maes from 11.11.11, a coalition of Belgian non-governmental organisations, has said. ‘But we have to be careful because rhetoric and practice are often very different.’ David Hachfeld of Oxfam International said: ‘If countries don’t want an EPA on the basis of the Cotonou agreement, the EC should ensure that they are not worse off and offer them alternative agreements.’ An alternative could be the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) offered by the EU to more-developed countries countries that grants them preferential market access for 66% of their products. Another option is the GSP Plus scheme, which gives them duty-free and quota-free market access for 88% of their products, provided they have ratified the relevant human rights and sustainable development conventions.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Protection of traditional knowledge under intellectual property rights may have a time limit, though determining duration of protection measures will be more difficult than it is with Western scientific innovation, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Francis Gurry has said. WIPO members, at their annual meeting earlier this month, agreed to negotiate a legal instrument on traditional knowledge protection in the next two years. Finding ways to accommodate traditional knowledge, and also to deal with misappropriations from the past, is ‘the intellectual challenge’. But the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) now has a ‘clear mandate’ to tackle this challenge. The IGC received its strongest mandate yet at the assemblies, and is now tasked with undertaking text-based negotiations towards an ‘international legal instrument’ for the effective protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
From the seven cases discussed in this paper, the authors observe that the patent systems in Europe and the United States are being used to promote the misappropriation of traditional knowledge and biological resources from the South. For example, the authors report that a German-based agriculture and healthcare giant corporate has staked a claim to the use of any extract from plants of the Vernonia genus in Madagascar for ‘improving the skin status’. The patent application appears to violate international law, as it duplicates traditional knowledge held by indigenous communities in Madagascar. Another firm is reported to have obtained a patent from the United States Patent Office that allows it to lay claim to extracts from the seeds of the Aframomum angustifolium, a native African plant, which it claims prevents ageing skin, and is the active ingredient in its highly profitable and costly beauty products. Some of the patent claimants say they intend to seek patents in South Africa and other African countries. The authors report that the study found little and, in some cases, no evidence of the existence of prior informed consent agreements for using the resources that form the subject matter of the patents, nor mutually agreed benefit sharing arrangements, as required by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Third EU-Africa Business Forum concluded its discussions in Nairobi, Kenya, (28-29 September 2009) with a consensus on the need for Africa to shift its policy objective from poverty reduction to the more dynamic goal of wealth creation. There was also broad agreement on the need for greater regional integration, increased investment and improved infrastructure. The EU has pledged some €5 billion in funding, 1.5 billion of which has been earmarked for the specific goal of promoting regional integration. Commenting on the Forum, Stefano Manservisi, the European Commission’s Director-General for Development noted that now, more than ever, good policy must be in place along with a sound enabling framework allowing the private sector access to credit, knowledge and skills. […] European Union companies were encouraged to increase investment in Africa to take advantage of the huge opportunities that currently exist on the continent. Other delegates noted that the continent offers impressive returns on investment and immense potential, particularly in areas such as agro-pressing, industrial production, construction and the service sector. They also pointed to the paramount importance of infrastructure and energy which feature prominently on Africa's development agenda and where opportunities were noted to exist for joint ventures.
This paper states that heavily indebted and poor countries (HIPCs) have started accumulating external debt reaching extreme ratios of debt to GDP and exports. These HIPCs are facing a food crisis and a decline in exports and GDP exposing them to shock and leading them to more debt. The author asserts that HIPCs lack appropriate tools to deal with multiple external shocks and will be affected in the long run by the likely reduction in social spending. This will affect the Millennium Development Goals affecting indices like infant mortality thus lowering the economic growth rates. The paper uses available data to make projections and comparisons and highlight the bleak picture. The paper advises that the donors should provide financing for the most vulnerable countries to preserve their gains and prevent a humanitarian crisis. The rich world and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) should reshape their policy agenda, focusing much more attention and providing more resources and assistance to low-income countries. The call for a temporary debt moratorium on all official debt of low-income countries by the IFIs is commendable but far from adequate.
This book explores the history of and current collision between two of the major global phenomena that have characterized the last 30 years: the spread of HIV and AIDS and other diseases of poverty and the ascendancy of neoliberal economic ideas. The book explains not only how International Monetary Fund policies of restrictive spending have exacerbated public health problems in developing countries, in particular the HIV and AIDS crisis, but also how such issues cannot be resolved under these economic policies. It also suggests how mounting global frustration about this inability to adequately address HIV and AIDS will ultimately lead to challenges to the dominant neoliberal ideas, as other more effective economic ideas for increasing public spending are sought. In stark, powerful terms, Rowden offers a unique and in-depth critique of development economics, the political economy dynamics of global foreign aid and health institutions, and how these seemingly abstract factors play out in the real world - from the highest levels of global institutions to African finance and health ministries to rural health outposts in the countryside of developing nations, and back again.
Migration to and from mines contributes to HIV risks and associated tuberculosis (TB) incidence. Health and safety conditions within mines also promote the risk of silicosis (a TB risk factor) and transmission of tuberculosis bacilli in close quarters. In the context of migration, current TB prevention and treatment strategies often fail to provide sufficient continuity of care to ensure appropriate TB detection and treatment. Reports from Lesotho and South Africa suggest that miners pose transmission risks to other household or community members as they travel home undetected or inadequately treated, particularly with drug-resistant forms of TB. Reducing risky exposures on the mines, enhancing the continuity of primary care services, and improving the enforcement of occupational health codes may mitigate the harmful association between mining activities and TB incidence among affected communities. A number of immediately available measures to improve continuity of care for miners, change recruitment and compensation practices, and reduce the primary risk of infection may help reduce South Africa’s TB burden.
Uganda is considering an anti-counterfeit bill which analysts say will impair the country’s ability to import and export cheap but effective generic medicines. Activists fear that the bill, once enacted, will deny Ugandans access to safe, effective, quality and affordable generic medication, which currently forms the bulk of Uganda’s medicine imports. Edgar Tabaro, a Ugandan lawyer specialising in trade-related matters, questions the necessity of the bill, saying that whatever it ostensibly seeks to address is covered by different laws like the Trademarks Act, Copyright Act, the Patents Act and the Trade Secrets Act. Rosette Mutambi, executive director of the Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPS-Uganda), regards the bill as a threat to the lives of many Ugandans who largely depend on generic anti-retroviral drugs and other medicine. She said only about 10% of the medicines used in Uganda are locally manufactured. And only about 5 to 7% of the imported medicines are original brands, meaning that about 93% of imported drugs are generics, mostly imported from India.
African and Pacific countries continue to negotiate the challenging Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union. These new agreements have the potential to help African countries accelerate their economic growth and develop more resilient economies. However, the presence of negotiating deadlocks or a sense of fatigue as well as the lack of real appetite for these agreements among many African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) negotiators, raise legitimate questions regarding their structure and content, as well as their ability to constitute instruments to leverage economic growth.
This report examines the range of contingency measures available in trade agreements and the role that these measures play. These measures allow governments a certain degree of flexibility within their trade commitments and can be used to address circumstances that could not have been foreseen when a trade commitment was made. The tension between credible commitments and flexibility is often close to the surface during trade negotiations. One of the main objectives of this report is to analyse whether the World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions provide a balance between supplying governments with necessary flexibility to face difficult economic situations and adequately defining them in a way that limits their use for protectionist purposes. The report also discusses alternative policy options, including the renegotiation of tariff commitments, the use of export taxes, and increases in tariffs up to their legal maximum ceiling or binding.