In recent weeks, Salud por Derecho has been present and has participated in two WHO events. From February 3 to 11, we were in Geneva to attend the 156th Session of the WHO Executive Board. Last week, we participated in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the pandemic treaty. During both events, we introduced key global health issues into the debate through various statements, including access to medicines, migration, and climate change.
Statements at the WHO Executive Board
During the Executive Board, we introduced three topics. First, we made a statement on Rare Diseases, denouncing how the current text fails to include explicit references to the need for transparency, the existing barriers to accessing treatments for rare diseases, or the right of countries to use patent flexibilities. We urged the WHO and its member states to incorporate such language in the text to ensure affordable access, price transparency, and technological collaboration to improve treatment availability.
The next day, through Jaume Vidal from Health Action International (HAI), we presented a statement denouncing the impact of migration policies—currently based on detention and border violence—on migrants’ mental health. In it, we called on the WHO and its member states to put an end to these practices, ensure safe and healthy migration pathways, and guarantee access to medical and mental health care for migrants.
‼️ These days we are in Geneva, participating in the WHO Executive Board.
This is our statement for the session on the impact of migration policies on migrants’ mental health.
(❤️ for the reading to @OnadaExpansiva from @HAImedicines). pic.twitter.com/NlPGPxI1E0
— Salud por Derecho (@Saludporderecho) February 6, 2025
On the last day, our statement denounced the global health crisis caused by poor air quality, which leads to millions of premature deaths annually, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable populations, with figures likely underrepresented due to inadequate measurement and data reporting systems. We urged states to improve these measurement systems, establish sustainable funding for evidence-based policies, and align air pollution limits with WHO recommendations.
Statements at the Pandemic Treaty Negotiations
During the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the pandemic treaty, we made two interventions. The first called for recognizing the pharmaceutical sector’s carbon footprint and its contribution to climate change in the treaty text—one of the factors accelerating the emergence of new zoonoses. Paradoxically, the current pharmaceutical supply chain model, in responding to a pandemic, increases the likelihood of the next one, and this must change.
Finally, we introduced a crucial topic in the debate regarding technology transfer, which is often presented as a one-way process from the Global North to the Global South. However, we argued that this does not reflect the current reality of the pharmaceutical sector. More than half of the 22 COVID-19 vaccines registered in multiple countries were developed in middle- and low-income nations. Innovation and production capacity are becoming increasingly globalized, and restricting access to knowledge during health emergencies will only cost lives. We therefore urged the strengthening of treaty language, requiring developers and manufacturers to share scientific data, regulatory information, and essential materials.
“The capacity for innovation and production is rapidly globalizing, and blocking the sharing of knowledge and technology during an emergency will not prevent this globalization… but it will cost human lives.”
Our statement during the INB for the Pandemic Treaty. pic.twitter.com/VKkDVKa4Z2
— Salud por Derecho (@Saludporderecho) February 21, 2025
