(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants has issued the Final Document summing up the results of its Congress held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome 17-20 November 2014. Some 300 people participated in the meeting. The Final Document is divided into three sections: the first presents a brief summary…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See on Wednesday urged that “a creative and innovative approach” to intellectual property be taken in order to assure medicines get to the people who need them.
“Application of the intellectual property instruments, as it currently prevails in many parts of the world, interferes with the right to health in two ways,” explained Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Specialized Agencies in Geneva.
He was speaking at the annual Social Forum organized by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was discussing making medicines are available, financially affordable, and physically accessible.
“First of all, some pharmaceutical companies assert a claim to unrealistic profit and cost recovery margins even though most governments and individual buyers from developing countries do not have the financial capacity to purchase these products at such high cost,” he continued. “This system can lead to total disregard for those who cannot afford the price of certain medical products and allow an imbalanced free trade system, and thus constitute a virtual monopoly.”
Archbishop Tomasi said second obstacle relates to research and development (R&D) in order to develop new and more effective medicines and other vital medical products, including diagnostic tools to facilitate early identification and treatment of certain life-threatening illnesses.
“The system, in fact, does not operate as an incentive to research on so-called ‘no market’ or ‘low return on investment’ treatments, such as those for neglected tropical diseases, rare diseases, or even for those illnesses that have higher prevalence among low-income people, or in economically-deprived regions, including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and Ebola Virus Disease, which most recently has been ravaging coastal West Africa. It is most regrettable, therefore, that, due to an excessive focus on profit, we witness a preference within much of the pharmaceutical industry to orient research toward health issues that have greater market potential in wealthier industrialized countries,” he said.
Archbishop Tomasi concluded by saying concern for the protection of intellectual property rights, while legitimate in itself, “must be seen within the wider perspective of promoting the common good, building global solidarity and prioritizing the life and dignity of the world’s most vulnerable people, many of whom bear an inequitable burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.”
The full text of Archbishop Tomasi’s Statement is below
Statement of His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
and Specialized Agencies in Geneva
at the Social Forum of the UN Human Rights Council
Geneva, 18 February 2015
Mr. Chairman,
1. The Delegation of the Holy See acknowledges the responsibility of States to ensure that medicines are available, financially affordable, and physically accessible on a basis of non-discrimination to everyone and appreciates the decision of the Human Rights Council to dedicate this annual session of the Social Forum to this urgent issue. With regard to the availability of medicines, we take special note that “… scientific research has multiplied the possibilities of prevention and healing” and “has allowed for the discovery of therapies that are indicated in caring for a variety of pathologies.” This represents “a highly valuable commitment that aims to respond to the expectations and the hopes of many ill people across the world.”
2. On the other hand, from the perspective of the Catholic Church’s experience in caring for the sick in more than 5,000 hospitals and 18,000 dispensaries in every region of the world, my delegation has called attention to the fact that States, in particular, and the international community, as a whole, have not fulfilled their responsibility to make medicines and diagnostic tools affordable and accessible to the poorest and most marginalized populations in low-income countries and even in certain areas and among certain groups of people in high-and middle-income countries. A major stumbling block in providing such access is found in restrictive applications and interpretations of intellectual property rights by many in the pharmaceutical industry.
Mr. Chairman,
3. Application of the intellectual property instruments, as it currently prevails in many parts of the world, interferes with the right to health in two ways. First of all, some pharmaceutical companies assert a claim to unrealistic profit and cost recovery margins even though most governments and individual buyers from developing countries do not have the financial capacity to purchase these products at such high cost. This system can lead to total disregard for those who cannot afford the price of certain medical products and allow an imbalanced free trade system, and thus constitute a virtual monopoly.
The second obstacle relates to research and development (R&D) in order to develop new and more effective medicines and other vital medical products, including diagnostic tools to facilitate early identification and treatment of certain life-threatening illnesses. The system, in fact, does not operate as an incentive to research on so-called “no market” or “low return on investment” treatments, such as those for neglected tropical diseases, rare diseases, or even for those illnesses that have higher prevalence among low-income people, or in economically-deprived regions, including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and Ebola Virus Disease, which most recently has been ravaging coastal West Africa. It is most regrettable, therefore, that, due to an excessive focus on profit, we witness a preference within much of the pharmaceutical industry to orient research toward health issues that have greater market potential in wealthier industrialized countries.
4. One group particularly deprived of access to medicines is that of children. Many essential medicines have not been developed in appropriate formulations or dosages specific to paediatric use. Thus, families and health care workers often are forced to engage in a “guessing game” on how best to divide adult-size pills for use with children. This situation can result in the tragic loss of life or continued chronic illness among needy children. While some progress to address this problem has been made in recent years, especially in relation to children living with HIV, many more challenges must be addressed in order to ensure access to medicines that are prepared in “child sized”, fixed dose combinations, of acceptable taste and form, and easy to administer to infants and very young children.
Mr. Chairman,
5. While fully respecting the right to private intellectual property, the Holy See urges a creative and innovative approach, with full use of the flexibilities allowed under the Trade Related Intellectual Property instruments, so that the right to health for all people without any form of discrimination can be fully guaranteed and implemented. We are convinced, therefore, that concern for the protection of intellectual property rights, while legitimate in itself, must be seen within the wider perspective of promoting the common good, building global solidarity and prioritizing the life and dignity of the world’s most vulnerable people, many of whom bear an inequitable burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See on Wednesday urged that “a creative and innovative approach” to intellectual property be taken in order to assure medicines get to the people who need them. “Application of the intellectual property instruments, as it currently prevails in many parts of the world, interferes with the right to health in two…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Choose God, choose good, not to be a total failure, maybe hailed by the masses, but ultimately nothing more than a worshiper of “trivial, pithy things that pass”.
This was Pope Francis reflection Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Pope centered his homily on the Bible passage in which God says to Moses, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. Obey the commandments of the Lord, Your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him and walking in his ways”.
Followers of meaningless gods
Pope Francis said the choice of Moses is one Christians are faced with every day. And it is a difficult choice. The Pope noted that it is easier to let oneself be carried along by inertia, by situations, habits. It is often easier to become servants of “other gods”.
“The choice is between God and other gods who do not have the power to give us anything other than trivial, pithy little things that pass. It is not easy to choose, we always have this habit of following the herd, like everyone else. Like everyone else. Everyone and no one. Today the Church tells us: ‘But, stop! Stop and choose ‘. This is good advice. It would do us all good to stop and think a little during the day: What is my lifestyle like? Which path am I on? “.
A monument to the failed
Pope Francis added that together with this question, we should dig deeper and ponder our relationship with God, with Jesus, our relationship with our parents, siblings, wife or husband, our relationship with our children.
He then went on to consider the Gospel of the day, when Jesus says to his disciples that a man “who gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself” reaps no “benefit”.
“The search for personal success, for possessions, without a thought for the Lord, for one’s family is always the wrong path to choose. There are two questions we must ponder: How is my relationship with God how is my relationship with my family. A person can earn everything, but in the end become a failure. He failed. That life is a failure. ‘But no, they built him a monument, they painted his portrait … “. But you failed: you did not choose well between life and death”.
We do not choose on our own
Pope Francis then posed a third question: “What pace do I live my life at? Do I reflect on the things I do”. He said we should ask God for the grace to have that “little bit of courage” we need to choose Him every time.
The Holy Father concluded that the ‘beautiful advice’ of the Psalm 1, can help us in this. “‘Blessed are they who hope in the Lord’. When the Lord gives us this advice – ‘Stop! Choose today, choose ‘- He doesn’t abandon us. He is with us and wants to help us. But we have to trust Him; we have to have faith in Him. ‘Blessed are they who hope in the Lord’. Today, when we stop to think about these things and make decisions, choose something, we know that the Lord is with us, beside us, helping us. He never abandons us to ourselves, never. He is always with us. Even in the moment of choosing, He is with us”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Choose God, choose good, not to be a total failure, maybe hailed by the masses, but ultimately nothing more than a worshiper of “trivial, pithy things that pass”. This was Pope Francis reflection Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Pope centered his homily on the Bible passage in which God says to Moses, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. Obey the commandments of the Lord, Your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him and…
Read more