A/RES/68/98
Global health and foreign policy
September 1994, 6 the key actions for the further implementation of the Programme
of Action 7 and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 8
Welcoming also the adoption of Economic and Social Council resolution
2013/12 of 22 July 2013 on the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the
Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases,
Reaffirming the right of every human being, without distinction of any kind, to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and
to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s
family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions,
Noting with particular concern that, for millions of people, the right to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,
including access to quality medicines, remains a distant goal, that, especially for
women, the most vulnerable, children and those living in poverty, the likelihood of
achieving this goal is becoming increasingly remote, that millions of people are
driven below the poverty line each year because of catastrophic out-of-pocket
payments for health care and that excessive out-of-pocket payments can discourage
the impoverished from seeking or continuing care,
Reaffirming the right to use, to the fullest extent, the provisions contained in
the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement
and Public Health, the decision of the General Council of the World Trade
Organization of 30 August 2003 on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health and, when formal
acceptance procedures are completed, the amendment to article 31 of the TRIPS
Agreement, as proposed by the General Council of the World Trade Organization in
its decision of 6 December 2005, which provide flexibilities for the protection of
public health, and in particular to promote access to medicines for all, and to
encourage the provision of assistance to developing countries in this regard, and
calling for broad and timely acceptance of the amendment to article 31 of the TRIPS
Agreement,
Recognizing that the protection of intellectual property can be important in the
development of new medicines,
Recognizing also that health is a precondition for and an outcome and
indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable development and that, despite
progress made, challenges in global health, including major inequities and
vulnerabilities within and among countries, regions and populations, still remain
and demand persistent attention,
Reaffirming the commitment to the achievement of all the Millennium
Development Goals, and stressing the need to further support initiatives aimed at
accelerating progress for their achievement by 2015,
_______________
6
Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5–13 September 1994
(United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.
7
Resolution S-21/2, annex.
8
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
2/6