World Health Organisation | 2010

’Public health related TRIPS-plus provisions in bilateral trade agreements: A policy guide for negotiators and implementers in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region’.

Mohammed K. El Said

The Policy Guide consists of six chapters and around 280 pages,
published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). The
main focus of this comprehensive policy guide—the first of its kind
solely dedicated to the region—is to analyze the effect of bilateral
trade agreements on public health regimes and access to medicines in the
countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. It also aims at providing
policy, technical guidance and assistance to policy-makers and practitioners with respect to intellectual property provisions included under bilateral trade
agreements that potentially have an adverse effect on public health. It
is needless to say that some of these issues are not confined to the
region, but rather shared by the majority of other developing and least
developed countries. Hence the importance of this policy guide and its
applicability to other countries outside the Region.

The policy guide evolved over several years, a project started back in
2007 in collaboration with the WHO EMRO Office. The Guide has been
thoroughly reviewed by the collaborating organisations (WHO and ICTSD)
and also by eleven renowned international experts in the field. Their
comments were fully taken on board, assessed and appropriately
incorporated.

This new publication can be found at the following link: http://www.emro.who.int/publications/Book_Details.asp?ID=1081