16 groups write open letter to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros: Roadmap on Access to Medicines and Vaccines 2019-2023

UPDATE: On Wednesday, 15 August 2018, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus provided a response to the open letter on the Roadmap on Access to Medicines and Vaccines 2019-2023. The Director-General’s response can be found here: WHO DG letter to KEI 15 August 2018 Access roadmap


On Friday, 3 August 2018, 16 groups sent an open letter to WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressing views on the proposed WHO Roadmap on Access to Medicines and Vaccines 2019-2023. The letter requested the Director-General to strengthen activities on the following workstreams: A) Transparency, B) Excessive Pricing C) Biologics drug competition, D) Intellectual Property rights and E) Delinkage. The full letter can be viewed here: Letter to Dr. Tedros on the WHO Roadmap on Access to Medicines and Vaccines 2019-2023.

The signatories of the open letter include:

Alianza LAC – Global por el Acceso a Medicamentos
Asociación por un Acceso Justo al Medicamento
BUKO Pharma-Kampagne
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Health Action International
Health GAP
Just Treatment
Knowledge Ecology International
KEI Europe
Misión Salud
Oxfam
Prescrire
Salud por Derecho
Stop AIDS
Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment
Yolse

Thiru

Thiru Balasubramaniam is the Geneva Representative of Knowledge Ecology International. Prior to his post as KEI’s Geneva Representative, Mr. Balasubramaniam worked at Health Action International in Colombo and at the World Health Organization in Geneva as a technical officer in the Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy dealing with access to medicines and intellectual property. He began his career with CPTech working on issues related to health care and intellectual property. Mr. Balasubramaniam holds a B.A. in Economics and a Minor in European History from the University of Pennsylvania.