The practical craft of policy coherence for global health
Abstract: The rationale for international cooperation is most compelling in the field of public health, since global interdependence is most acute. The WHO Constitution articulates the principles that '[t]he health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent upon the fullest co-operation of individuals and States' and that '[t]he achievement of any State in the promotion and protection of health is of value to all.' This interdependence, framed most recently in the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, builds expectations that other elements of the multilateral system can and should respond to global health challenges in an equitable, effective and inclusive manner. The WTO's Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, and the WHO's Global Strategy and Plan of Action, represent steps in this direction. Ranging across the international policy and legal landscape, this seminar will review progress towards a more coherent and cooperative framework for collective efforts to achieve improved global health outcomes, with a particular focus on the question of access to medicines and medical technologies, the challenges for the multilateral system of lending momentum and support for concrete practical efforts, and the potential guidance that empirical research can provide.
Speaker: Antony Taubman is currently Director, Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization, with responsibility for the WTO’s programs on intellectual property, competition policy and government procurement. From 2002 to 2009, he was Director, Global Intellectual Property Issues Division of WIPO (including the Traditional Knowledge Division and Life Sciences Program), covering a wide range of programs on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, the life sciences, and related global issues including the environment, climate change, human rights, food security, bioethics and indigenous issues. After a diplomatic career, he left the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2001 to join the newly-formed Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture, at the Australian National University, teaching and researching on international IP law.
The Faculty of Public Health and Policy Seminar Series provides a forum for presenting current research on health systems and policy in low-, middle- and high-income countries. The series cover empirical research, theoretical and methodological issues, and give an opportunity for staff and students to participate in debate and learn about new developments in health systems and policy research.
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