RES/32/15 Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

GE.16-12307(E)

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Human Rights Council Thirty-second session

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 1 July 2016

32/15. Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to

the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical

and mental health

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Reaffirming also that the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable

standard of physical and mental health is a human right as reflected in, inter alia, the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and, with respect to

non-discrimination, in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and that

such a right derives from the inherent dignity of the human person,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 23/14 of 24 June 2013 and all relevant

previous resolutions and decisions on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest

attainable standard of physical and mental health adopted by the Council, the General

Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights,

Recalling also the Declaration on the Right to Development, which, inter alia,

establishes that States should take, at the national level, all measures necessary for the

realization of the right to development and should ensure, inter alia, equality of opportunity

for all in their access to basic resources, such as health services,

Reaffirming General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 27 September 2015, entitled

“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which the

Assembly adopted the outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of

the post-2015 development agenda, recognizing that eradicating poverty in all its forms and

dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an

indispensable requirement for sustainable development, and envisaging a world free of

poverty, hunger, disease and want, a world of universal respect for human rights and human

United Nations A/HRC/RES/32/15

General Assembly

dignity that includes equitable and universal access to health care and social protection, and

where physical, mental and social well-being are assured,

Welcoming the Sustainable Development Goals, including, inter alia, Goal 3 on

ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, and its specific and

interlinked targets, and other health-related Goals and targets,

Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Chairman-Rapporteur of the 2015

Social Forum,1 held in Geneva from 18 to 20 February 2015,

Noting with appreciation the Human Rights Council panel convened to discuss the

progress in and challenges of addressing human rights issues in the context of efforts to end

the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, on 11 March 2016,

Noting with appreciation also the Secretary-General’s decision to establish a High-

level Panel on Access to Medicines, with the mandate to make proposals on how to address

policy incoherence in public health, trade, the justifiable rights of inventors, and human

rights, and recognizing the participation of the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights in the expert advisory group supporting the Panel,

Noting with concern that, for millions of people throughout the world, the full and

equal enjoyment of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

remains a distant goal,

Concerned about the interrelatedness between poverty and the realization of the

right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental

health, in particular the fact that ill health can be both a cause and a consequence of

poverty,

Recognizing that universal health coverage implies that all people have access

without discrimination to nationally determined sets of the needed promotive, preventive,

curative, palliative and rehabilitative essential health services, and essential, safe,

affordable, efficacious and quality medicines and vaccines, while ensuring that the use of

these services does not expose users to financial hardship, with a special emphasis on the

poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population,

Recognizing also the need for States, in cooperation with international organizations

and civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector,

including pharmaceutical companies, to create favourable conditions at the national,

regional and international levels to ensure the full and effective enjoyment of the right of

everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,

Recalling that the Doha Ministerial Declaration on the Agreement on Trade-Related

Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health confirms that the Agreement does

not and should not prevent members of the World Trade Organization from taking

measures to protect public health, and that the Declaration, accordingly, while reiterating

the commitment to the Agreement, affirms that it can and should be interpreted and

implemented in a manner supportive of the rights of members of the Organization to protect

public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all, and further

recognizes, in this connection, the right of members of the Organization to use, to the full,

the provisions of the above-mentioned Agreement, which provide flexibility for this

purpose,

Regretting the high number of people still without access to affordable, safe,

efficacious and quality medicines, and underscoring that improving such access could save

1 A/HRC/29/44.

millions of lives every year, and noting with deep concern that, according to the World

Health Organization in its World Medicines Situations Report of 2011, at least one third of

the world population has no regular access to medicines, while recognizing that the lack of

access to medicines is a global challenge that affects people not only developing countries

but also in developed countries, even though the disease burden is disproportionately high

in developing countries,

Concerned at the lack of access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable

medicines for children in appropriate dosage forms, and at problems in the rational use of

children’s medicines in many countries, and that, globally, children aged under five years

still do not have secure access to medicines for the treatment of pneumonia, tuberculosis,

diarrheal diseases, HIV infection and malaria, or medicines for many other infectious

diseases, non-communicable diseases and rare diseases,

Concerned also that the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases

constitutes a heavy burden on society, with serious social and economic consequences,

which represent a leading threat to human health and development, and recognizing the

urgent need to improve accessibility to safe, affordable, efficacious and quality medicines

and technologies to diagnose and treat non-communicable diseases, to strengthen viable

financing options, and to promote the use of affordable medicines, including generics, as

well as improved access to preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative services,

particularly at the community level,

Expressing deep concern at recent outbreaks of highly infectious pathogens with

epidemic potential, which demonstrate the potential vulnerability of populations to them,

and in this context reaffirming and underscoring the importance of the development of new

and innovative medicines and vaccines and of ensuring access to safe, affordable,

efficacious and quality medicines and vaccines to all, as well as strengthening health

system capacities for preventing and responding to outbreaks,

Recalling the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and

Intellectual Property of the World Health Organization, and commending the efforts of the

Organization to fill gaps in health research and development for the relevant needs of

developing countries, including neglected diseases and potential areas where market failure

exists, through the follow-up to the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group on

Research and Development, and reiterating that health research and development should be

needs-driven, evidence-based, guided by the core principles of affordability, effectiveness,

efficiency and equity, and considered a shared responsibility,

1. Recognizes that access to medicines is one of the fundamental elements in

achieving progressively the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the

highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

2. Stresses the responsibility of States to ensure access for all, without

discrimination, to medicines, in particular essential medicines, that are affordable, safe,

efficacious and of quality;

3. Calls upon States to promote access to medicines for all, including through

the use, to the full, of the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights, which provide flexibility for that purpose, recognizing that the

protection of intellectual property is important for the development of new medicines, as

well as the concerns about its effects on prices;

4. Also calls upon States to take steps to implement policies and plans to

promote access to comprehensive and cost-effective prevention, treatment and care for the

integrated management of non-communicable diseases, including, inter alia, increased

access to affordable, safe, efficacious and quality medicines and diagnostics and other

technologies, including through the full use of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual

Property Rights flexibilities;

5. Reiterates the call upon States to continue to collaborate, as appropriate, on

models and approaches that support the delinkage of the cost of new research and

development from the prices of medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for diseases that

predominantly affect developing countries, including emerging and neglected tropical

diseases, so as to ensure their sustained accessibility, affordability and availability and to

ensure access to treatment for all those in need;

6. Calls upon the international community to continue to assist developing

countries in promoting the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the

highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including through access to

medicines that are affordable, safe, efficacious and of quality, and through financial and

technical support and training of personnel, while recognizing that the primary

responsibility for promoting and protecting all human rights rests with States;

7. Recognizes the innovative funding mechanisms that contribute to the

availability of vaccines and medicines in developing countries, such as the Global Fund to

Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Gavi Alliance and UNITAID, and calls upon all

States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in particular the World Health

Organization, and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective

mandates, and encourages relevant stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies,

while safeguarding public health from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or

potential conflict of interest, to further collaborate to enable equitable access to quality, safe

and efficacious medicines that are affordable to all, including those living in poverty,

children and other persons in vulnerable situations;

8. Urges all States, United Nations agencies and programmes and relevant

intergovernmental organizations, especially the World Health Organization, within their

respective mandates, and encourages non-governmental organizations and relevant

stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, to promote innovative research and

development to address health needs in developing countries, including access to quality,

safe, efficacious and affordable medicines, and in particular with regard to diseases

disproportionately affecting developing countries, and the challenges arising from the

growing burden of non-communicable diseases, taking into account the Global Strategy and

Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property of the World Health

Organization;

9. Invites the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of

the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, while considering the many

ways towards the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest

attainable standard of physical and mental health, to continue to focus on the human rights

dimension of access to medicines when discharging his or her duties, in accordance with

the mandate;

10. Invites Member States and all stakeholders, including relevant United

Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedure mandate

holders, national human rights institutions, civil society and the private sector, to promote

policy coherence in the areas of human rights, intellectual property and international trade

and investment when considering access to medicines;

11. Decides to convene, at its thirty-fourth session, a panel discussion to

exchange views on good practices and key challenges relevant to access to medicines as

one of the fundamental elements of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest

attainable standard of physical and mental health, taking into account all relevant reports,

and that the discussion shall be fully accessible to persons with disabilities,

12. Invites the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise

with States and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds

and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedure mandate holders, national human rights

institutions and civil society, with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel

discussion;

13. Requests the High Commissioner to prepare a summary report on the panel

discussion to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-sixth session.

43rd meeting

1 July 2016

[Adopted without a vote.]