Combating counterfeit medical products.
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Résumé
The involvement of WHO in combating counterfeit medicines is based on its role in public health; counterfeit medicines would affect the health-care system and lead to adverse health effects. Counterfeit medicines also involve many other areas such as commerce, law enforcement and intellectual property rights, which make the issue complex.WHO has been engaged in combating counterfeit medicine since 1985, but this paper discusses activities since 2008. Following the World Health Assembly discussions on the topic in 2008, the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia discussed the issue and developed a clear definition of counterfeit medical products which clearly excluded intellectual property disputes.During the discussions at the Executive Board in Geneva in January 2009, there were certain extraneous incidents which sought to link intellectual property rights to counterfeit products. This resulted in a request for further information to be presented at the 2009 World Health Assembly. The issue was however, not taken up at the World Health Assembly due to the shortened session. There are many issues that are still unresolved and this paper poses questions that need to be dealt with by Member States before the World Health Assembly in 2010.The attached working paper is submitted to the High-Level Preparatory (HLP) Meeting for its review and recommendations. These recommendations will be submitted to the Sixty-second Session of the Regional Committee for its consideration.Citation
World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia. (2009). Combating counterfeit medical products.. WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/127750