Access to Medicines in the Context of the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

A/HRC/RES/23/14View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2013–2016

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/32/15

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2016	A/HRC/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	2,093	31%Compare
2013	A/HRC/RES/23/14	Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health	1,578	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

Essential Drugs Health Care Delivery Health Policy Pharmaceuticals Right to Health

What’s in this document?

26 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the study of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health on existing challenges with regard to access to medicines in the context of that right, ways to overcome them and good practices;³

³A/HRC/23/42.

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;

Stresses the responsibility of States to ensure the highest attainable level of health for all, including through access, without discrimination, to medicines, in particular essential medicines, that are affordable, safe, efficacious and of quality;

Emphasizes the central role of prevention, the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the strengthening of health systems;

Urges States, as appropriate:

To implement, or where they do not exist, to establish, national health frameworks that ensure access for all, without discrimination, to medicines that are affordable, safe, efficacious and of quality;

To develop a policy framework on medicines, including, where appropriate, local production of medicines, with the aim of ensuring long-term accessibility and affordability of medicines;

To adopt regulation measures with a view to providing access of the population, and particularly individuals in vulnerable situations, to affordable medicines;

To raise awareness about the responsible use of medicines, including through the wide dissemination of information in that regard, taking into account the potential risks to health;

To promote the informed participation of relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, in formulating national medicines policies and programmes, while safeguarding public health from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or potential conflict of interest;

To strengthen, or where they do not exist, to establish, national monitoring and accountability mechanisms for policies relating to access to medicines;

To ensure that procurement practices and procedures for medicines are transparent, fair, competitive and non-discriminatory;

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;

To foster the development of technology and the voluntary transfer of technology to developing countries, on mutually agreed terms aligned with national priorities, bearing in mind the specific needs of least-developed countries in this regard;

To apply measures and procedures for enforcing intellectual property rights in such a manner as to avoid creating barriers to the legitimate trade of affordable, safe, efficacious and quality medicines, and to provide for safeguards against the abuse of such measures and procedures;

To strengthen, or where they do not exist, to establish, national health regulatory systems that ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines;

To promote the improvement of health infrastructures necessary for access to affordable, safe, efficacious and quality medicines, such as storage and distribution systems;

To ensure that investment, industrial or other policies promote development and access to medicines, in particular their affordability;

To explore and promote a range of incentive schemes for research and development, including addressing, where appropriate, the delinkage of the costs of research and development and the price of health products, in accordance with the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property;

To improve domestic management capacities in order to improve delivery and access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable medicines;

To promote universal health coverage in national systems as one of the efficacious means to promote access to medicines for all;

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;

Invites relevant United Nations programmes and agencies, in particular the World Health Organization, as well as other relevant international organizations, within their mandates, to consider the findings of the study of the Special Rapporteur;

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 the International Drug Purchase Facility, UNITAID, and calls upon all States, United Nations programmes and agencies, 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;

Urges all States, United Nations agencies and programmes and relevant intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders, 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, as well as the challenges arising from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases;

Invites the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, within his existing mandate, while considering the many ways towards the full realization of the right to health, including universal health coverage, to continue to focus on the issue of access to medicines, including in his regular country missions.

  The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its twenty-third session (A/HRC/23/2), chap. I.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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