Guyana has signed on to an agreement that would see pharmaceutical companies here eventually manufacturing drugs for distribution to Caribbean, Latin American and African countries.
The South-South initiative was yesterday announced in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on the sidelines of the COP 27 summit and has the support of the European Union and the World Health Organization.
“The Pharmaceutical Equity for Global Public Health Equity, which is being launched today, is a manifestation of actionable South-South cooperation. It is a model through which the countries of the South can assume greater responsibility for responding to health and other challenges. The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is pleased to be associated with the convening of this initiative. We pledge our support to this undertaking and to improving global public health equity,” President Irfaan Ali declared in a virtual presentation yesterday from Guyana, where he had joined Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the COP 27 Summit.
They had discussed, according a release from Mottley’s office, the furthering of pharmaceutical equity for global public health.
Stabroek News understands that Guyana’s involvement would entail the manufacturing of specific and listed generic pharmaceuticals for export, at a fraction of global costs, but it is unclear how funding will be sourced.
It is also unclear if other drug manufacturing companies would be set up here, as currently only the New GPC has the capacity for large-scale drug manufacturing, followed by Twins Manufacturing Chemists.
The countries’ leaders were joined by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The ceremony was also witnessed by Acting Director, Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma of Africa CDC, President Dr Werner Hoyer of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and kENUP Foundation Chairman, Holm Keller.
“The key recommendation emanating from the meeting is an inter-governmental South-South cooperation initiative aiming at the development and manufacturing of 60% of all essential, contemporary pharmaceuticals for the populations of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa within their respective continents by 2040. Initially, it is intended for the cooperation to focus on next generation oncological drugs, preventive and therapeutic vaccines, as well as on modalities for women’s health. It is also stipulated that all manufacturing sites related to this endeavor will be in full compliance with the relevant stipulations of the COP 21 Paris Agreement,” a statement from Mottley’s office said.
“The leaders of the countries and organizations which have launched this initiative have emphasized that all interested countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and African region are invited to join,” it added.
President Ali yesterday reminded of the impactful words spoken by the Director General of the World Health Organization that “everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without suffering financial hardship.” No one, he said, “should get sick and die because they are poor or because they cannot access the health services they need.”
Referencing dismal statistics of the effects of the disparity between first world and third world healthcare services, Ali said that the reality was that the global health landscape is far from even.
“61 babies die for every 1,000 live births in developing countries, compared to 8 per every 1,000 live births in developed countries; more than one-third of all child deaths under the age of five occur in developing countries; less than 25% of persons in developing countries live to the age of 70; in 2021, 69% of all new tuberculosis cases occurred in South East Asia and Africa; seven out of every ten of the 10 million cancer deaths in 2020 were in low- and middle-income countries,” the president related.
“Most of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies originate in the developed world; and with prevention and the right treatment, most of the deaths in developing countries can be avoided. Yet, access by these countries to life saving medicines is being constrained by patent monopolies and overpriced medicines,” he contended.
Fault lines
And with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ali noted that the fault lines of global health disparities were exemplified starkly during its height when “rich developed countries placed orders for and stockpiled vaccines in excess of their needs while millions in poor developing countries remained unprotected.”
He said that even now, according to the World Health Organization, in March of this year 74% of the population in high-income countries had been vaccinated, as compared to a mere 12% in low-income countries.
“As I have said before, the developing world must never again find itself waiting in line for life-saving treatments, including vaccines. We must never again, in the midst of any future global health crisis, be forced into extreme reliance on the rich countries for life-saving vaccines and medicines. The global South is not helpless. We are blessed with some of the most brilliant scientific minds on the planet. We have the capabilities to develop medicines to prevent and treat health threats. The Republic of Cuba has developed its own COVID-19 vaccines,” he stressed.
‘I have called before for South-South cooperation to allow us to combine our experience and expertise and mobilize the necessary financial resources to address our health threats,” he added.
The WHO Director General yesterday also pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic saying it is a lesson for developing countries to learn from.
“One of the most important lessons of the pandemic is that manufacturing capacity for medicines, diagnostics vaccines and other tools is concentrated in too few countries,” Dr Ghebreyesus said.
Ali came in for high praise from Mottley who singled out him and the Rwandan President, as among persons who made the initiative a reality.
“Today is a truly historic moment as with a great sense of urgency and understanding, South-South cooperation rose to the fore to address matters of global public health,” Mottley said.
She added, “I want to dearly thank President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President Paul Kagame and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for recognizing the importance of this venture and congratulate all stakeholders who have been instrumental in developing this pharmaceutical transatlantic bridge between Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The President of the European Commission, according to Mottley’s office, told the gathering that she too was impressed and that the EU was committed to supporting the initiative.
Health is a top priority for citizens, wherever they live. The EU is committed to supporting our African and Latin American and Caribbean partners in boosting their own capacity to produce vaccines, medicines, and health technologies. This will increase the resilience of their health systems and contribute to economic growth. Thanks to close cooperation between all the necessary actors, the public authorities, the scientific community and the private sector, we will get there quicker.” von der Leyen added.
