Access to Medicine

The world loses more than $2 trillion annually due to illicit trade, which drains countries of valuable resources and impedes sustainable development.

As multilateralism fails to provide many developing countries with the tools they need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, regional cooperation offers hope to building back better.

Written by James Zhan, Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise, and Christoph Spennemann, Chief, Intellectual Property Unit, UNCTAD

UNCTAD and the WHO have teamed up to respond to the urgent call to boost local production of essential medicines in developing countries.

UN agencies launched the Tech Access Partnership in a joint effort to scale up local production of life-saving health technologies for COVID-19.

An event on fostering investment in the development of new antibacterial treatments was held on 23 October 2018 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva during the World Investment Forum (WIF).

The $5 billion East African pharmaceutical market is expected to grow by more than 12% per year for the next five years, as lifestyle changes in the region lead to higher rates of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.

Improving access to medicines can be enhanced by local production of pharmaceuticals in developing countries. But to do so, both the public and the private sector need to work together, said James Zhan, Director of UNCTAD's Division on Investment and Enterprise at the World Investment Forum's Policy Debate on Public Health.