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

A/HRC/RES/50/13View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2022–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/59/7

2025A/HRC/RES/59/7Access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/50/13Access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Equality Health Policy Medical Supplies Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Right to Health Technology Transfer Vaccines

What does this mandate say?

25 operative paragraphs

Recognizes that timely, equitable and unhindered access to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics and other health products and technologies is one of the fundamental elements for the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the correspondent objectives of universal health coverage and health for all, without discrimination, with special attention to reaching those furthest behind first;

Stresses the responsibility of States to ensure timely, equitable and unhindered access for all, without discrimination, to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and other health products and technologies, as well as access to immunization as a global public good;

Calls upon States to promote timely, equitable and unhindered access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and other health products and technologies, for all, including through the full use of the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), which provide flexibility for that purpose, while recognizing that the protection of intellectual property is important for the development of new and innovative medicines and vaccines, and the concerns about its effects on prices and public health;

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, effective and quality medicines, vaccines and diagnostics and other health products, including through the full use of TRIPS Agreement provisions and flexibilities;

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;

Urges States and all relevant stakeholders, in order to ensure timely, equitable and unhindered access for all persons to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and other health products and technologies with a view to advancing the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals:

To promote research and capacity-building initiatives, and to enhance international cooperation on and access to science, innovation, technologies, technical assistance and knowledge-sharing, including by pooling initiatives, while appreciating the substantive efforts many States have already made to this end;

To take all measures necessary to strengthen regional and local production, by promoting innovative modalities of global partnerships and technology transfers, on mutually agreed terms, and to facilitate trade in medicines, vaccines and other health products;

To share data and results in accordance with internationally agreed principles, including sharing of pathogens, samples and genetic sequencing data, and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from their utilization, in accordance with international access and benefit-sharing instruments;

To promote the transfer of technology and know-how on mutually agreed terms, and to encourage research, innovation and commitment, where possible, to voluntary licensing in all agreements in which public funding has been invested in research and development;

To assist in efforts to build capacity through training and financial support for developing countries to produce health technologies, including mRNA vaccine technology;

To explore ways to promote equitable access and fair distribution of health products, including the possible establishment of a global end-to-end platform;

To advance the health and care workforce investment agenda, with a special focus on the primary health-care workforce and employment of women at all levels;

To take measures to ensure accessible and affordable access to health-care systems for persons with disabilities;

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, in particular essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices, assistive technologies and other health products that are affordable, safe, effective and of quality, and through financial and technical support, training of personnel and other capacity-building measures, while recognizing that the primary responsibility for respecting, protecting and fulfilling all human rights rests with States, while recognizing also the fundamental importance of the transfer of environmentally sound technologies on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed;

Recognizes the innovative funding mechanisms and arrangements 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, Unitaid, the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative and the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), especially for those living in poverty, children and other persons in vulnerable situations, 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 companies involved in the research and development, manufacture, importing, distribution and supply of pharmaceuticals, 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 effective medicines and vaccines that are affordable to all, including those living in poverty, children and other persons in vulnerable situations;

Encourages engagement among Governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, philanthropic foundations and the private sector and greater policy coherence and coordinated actions through whole-of-government, whole-of-society and Health in All Policies approaches to find solutions to health challenges, such as the need for public health-driven research and development, improved existing and alternative frameworks to adequately reward innovation, pricing and affordability of health products, and leveraging innovative technologies, including digital technologies, and solutions for health;

Encourages States, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to redouble efforts to achieve a continuous supply of quality, safe, effective and affordable health products through research and development that meets public health needs, for the efficient application and management of intellectual property standards, to carry out evidence-based selection of health products and to seek fair and affordable pricing, to adopt good procurement and supply chain management and to promote appropriate prescribing, dispensing and rational use of health products;

Recognizes the importance of adequately training the health workforce, including community health workers, and of improving health literacy in order to achieve the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and strengthen equitable and universal health coverage;

Urges all States, United Nations agencies, funds 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 safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and vaccines, in particular with regard to diseases disproportionately affecting developing countries, and the challenges arising from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, while taking into account the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property of the World Health Organization;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to enhance its work, within its mandate, in the field of the human rights dimension of access to medicines and vaccines, in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

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 timely, equitable and unhindered access to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines and other health products globally during current and future health emergencies when discharging his or her duties, in accordance with the mandate;

Invites 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, public health, intellectual property and international trade and investment when considering access to medicines and vaccines;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to enhance its work, within its mandate, including with support for dedicated capacity to continue to carry out research, to organize three expert workshops, to provide technical assistance to States throughout the next three years on the human rights dimension of access to medicines and vaccines in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including with regard to good practices, key challenges and new developments, and to present to the Human Rights Council a compendium of good practices at its fifty-third session and an analytical study on key challenges at its fifty-sixth session, with a view to presenting a comprehensive report, including new developments, at its fifty-ninth session, and to prepare these submissions in an accessible and easy-to-read format;

Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner to continue its work and set its priorities on economic, social and cultural rights, taking into consideration relevant resolutions and decisions of the Human Rights Council, with due regard to the fulfilment of the obligations of international cooperation as essential requirements for the realization of these rights.

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