Expensive bureaucracy and WHO vs cheaper medicines

A new report was released this week that should help remind the UN and country leaders, WHO and health Ministers or Secretaries, and many other officials flying to NYC for a UN High Level Meeting (UNHLM) next week on health, climate, many other issues -- that they themselves are part of the problem on expensive medicines and healthcare. Minimal Government Thinkers (MGT) is one of the many co-signatories of this report.

See the report here,

https://geneva-network.com/article/improving-access-to-medicines/

How do governments become contributors to expensive medicines, less affordable and less efficient public healthcare?

Via many taxes, duties, tariffs, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on imported medicines and medical devices; via long and bureaucratic approval of patents of newly-invented and revolutionary drugs, and so on.

Take this chart from the report, ad valorem duties or tariffs on imported medicines.

Then the long approval process of newly-invented, patented drugs. Thailand and Brazil are the emerging economies' topnotchers in such delays.

To help remedy these problems and issues, the report has recommended the following:

1. Reduce unnecessary medicine costs by:

* Reducing taxes,

* Abolishing tariffs,

* Eradicating other trade barriers.

2. Accelerate access to medicines by:

* Speeding up patent examination,

* Simplifying the drug approval process,

*  Modernising government medicine reimbursement decision-making, and

*  Promoting open trade in medicines.

I am happy to be part of this very useful and important report.

Thank you, Geneva Network for initiating this study.