UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for Universal Access to Medicines

Durban, South Africa - The UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines convened a press briefing on Nelson Mandela International Day, on the sidelines of the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored his commitment to the process and recounted the underlying reasons why he established the Panel to promote innovation and increase access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics.

"Sixteen years ago, when the AIDS conference was last held in Durban, less than 1 percent of all people living with HIV in poorer countries had access to treatment. Millions died waiting for medicines. Today, more than 17 million people receive treatment," said Ban Ki-moon.

"If we want to reach the universal health coverage by 2030, we have to break down barriers to treatment. And we need to develop treatments for tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases and other unmet needs," he added.

The High-Level Panel was convened in November 2015, following the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, to address the policy incoherence between the justifiable rights of inventors, international human rights law, trade rules and public health in the context of health technologies.

To take into account expert contributions from all stakeholders, the Panel issued a call for contributions in December 2015 and subsequently received 182 submissions from the private sector government, civil society groups, multilateral organizations and academia.

In March 2016, the Panel held two global dialogues – in London and Johannesburg – where participants from around the world gathered in person and online to discuss and propose solutions to the challenges of promoting innovation and access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics.

"The history of South Africa should inspire us, and remind us that there are many ways to encourage more innovation where it is needed and make progress on the issue of access to medicines," said Malebona Precious Matsoso, High-Level Panel Member and Director-General, Department of Health, South Africa.

"I hope the report contains many routes of action that we can take immediately and build toward the future," he said.