Eradicating Neglected Tropical Diseases
Hello Delegates!
Great job on your position papers! We've been reading them as they have been coming in and we are extremely impressed with the level of thought and the ideas presented in them. Keep up the good work!
Reminder - to be eligible for a committee award, position papers are due by February 12th!
Here's a great video which really breaks down the issue of eradicating global diseases, specifically Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). One of the biggest struggles with eradicating NTDs is the fact that they are most often found in isolated communities whose residents do not have proper access to healthcare and preventative measures. This issue is hard to combat, but as can be seen in this video, thanks to the generosity of the pharmaceutical industry, over 815 million people have been treated for various NTDs.
Some interesting thoughts to ponder - How do you distribute treatment to isolated communities which lack proper infrastructure? Is it sustainable to have the pharma industry "donate" treatments to these high risk areas for all global diseases?
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at treasurer@bmun.org or any other members of the WHO dais with any questions you may have.
Good luck and happy researching!
Himaja
Great job on your position papers! We've been reading them as they have been coming in and we are extremely impressed with the level of thought and the ideas presented in them. Keep up the good work!
Reminder - to be eligible for a committee award, position papers are due by February 12th!
Here's a great video which really breaks down the issue of eradicating global diseases, specifically Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). One of the biggest struggles with eradicating NTDs is the fact that they are most often found in isolated communities whose residents do not have proper access to healthcare and preventative measures. This issue is hard to combat, but as can be seen in this video, thanks to the generosity of the pharmaceutical industry, over 815 million people have been treated for various NTDs.
Some interesting thoughts to ponder - How do you distribute treatment to isolated communities which lack proper infrastructure? Is it sustainable to have the pharma industry "donate" treatments to these high risk areas for all global diseases?
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at treasurer@bmun.org or any other members of the WHO dais with any questions you may have.
Good luck and happy researching!
Himaja
When considering the distribution of treatment to isolated communities with poor infrastructure, one of the first ideas that comes to mind is to encourage national governments to simply construct new infrastructure. Although this may seem like a plausible solution for developing nations, low-income countries (LICs), such as many of those in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have the economic resources to fund these projects. For example, Burundi, a LIC that is one of the poorest in the world, has a GDP of only $285.70 per capita. With such a low GDP, the nation cannot afford to invest in infrastructure, let alone healthcare, while it recovers from a 12-year civil war. Thereby, solutions structured around developing infrastructure, requiring national governments to take action themselves, would not be beneficial for these nations.
ReplyDeleteThe delegation of New Zealand suggests that the international community, along with UN bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, provide direct monetary aid to national governments with poor infrastructure. This monetary aid would provide LICs with the funding needed to improve their infrastructure without draining their national economies. A regulatory commission that would work alongside international members should also be established to review providing monetary aid on a case-by-case basis, focusing on those with the greatest deficiencies in infrastructure first. In addition, the commision would help oversee the correct allocation and usage of these funds to prevent corrupt governments from using them in other areas.
For MICs, rather than building infrastructure, the nation of New Zealand recommends the utilization of pre-existing infrastructure to increase distribution of treatments to isolated communities. Local chain stores can be incentivized by new business opportunities to increase the amount of medicines and other healthcare products that are available for purchase by consumers, similar to the method employed by Hapinoy Stores in the Philippines. This would increase accessibility to treatments by housing them in local stores, rather than in large pharmacies that are generally located in cities far from the isolated communities. In addition, New Zealand advocates for stronger partnerships between the community and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Doctors without Borders, through greater community mobilization. Designating certain people of the community as leaders, which would be done by the NGOs, would more efficiently help distribute treatment by preventing large numbers of people from one village to leave their homes to receive treatment. Rather, the designated leaders would be able to gather medicines or vaccinations for the entire village and would either distribute it themselves or administer it with the help of a member of the NGO, depending on the complexity of the treatment.
In regards to the sustainability of treatment donations by the pharmaceutical industry, the country of New Zealand believes that they are sustainable, as long as there are some regulations on these pharma companies. One of the major issues that opponents of treatment donations by pharma companies highlight is the idea that by allowing these donations, the pharma industry is able to take control of which diseases are being treated. This can be prevented through a contract between the World Health Organization and the pharma companies that would include certain provisions highlighting which diseases are to be primarily targeted. As of now, the contract should emphasize focusing on treatments for the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that were outlined by the global eradication campaign, especially dracunculiasis and polio which are the closest to being eradicated in the next few years. In addition, if countries would further like to regulate the donations from the pharma companies, then they should be allowed the option of establishing a national pharmaceutical regulatory committee, such as New Zealand’s own Pharmaceutical Management Agency (PHARMAC), that would oversee measures taken by these companies, as they see fit.
DeleteNot sure why my name didn’t show up in the previous comments, but this comment is just for identification.
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ReplyDeleteThe Solomon Islands understands that combating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) is a prominent goal for the international community. In order to effectively combat these NTDs, especially in isolated nations without much government infrastructure, such as the Solomon Islands, we propose the creation of a multi-governmental health system centered around specific geographic areas created by the WHO that are already in place. This would increase cooperation between nations located in geographic proximity, which would lead to the more effective use of funds to build and improve infrastructure. Governments in a region could share resources and data, as well as provide a singular region-specific healthcare service that they may not be able to provide without cooperation. Regions that are still lacking in resources can receive aid from wealthier nations, the IMF, and NGOs. Infrastructure is needed as many of the nations that suffer from NTDs lack adequate medical facilities close to areas where needed. The creation of new infrastructures such as roads, medical facilities, and public transportation will facilitate the distribution of needed medicines to combat NTDs. Roads to remote parts of nations will allow more people to have access to medicine and medical facilities.
ReplyDeleteHowever, medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics are often extremely expensive to build and maintain as well as inefficient when dealing with remote areas. In order to cover the most ground, the Solomon Islands proposes the use of Heavy Duty Fabric Tent Clinics (HDFTC) which are cheap to build and easy to assemble, which still providing an adequate facility to practice medicine in. Similarly to how pharmaceutical companies donated billions of dollars worth of medicine to needy regions, the international community can encourage companies such as ESVO and Herculite, which make high-quality, durable tents, to donate material to NGOs and governments, which can construct these tents in necessary areas. By effective implementation of both regional cooperation and HDFTCs, the Solomon believes that the international community can take the final step in the elimination of NTDs.
-Delegation of the Solomon Islands
China is in full agreement that the idea of pharmaceutical companies choosing what diseases get treated sufficiently solely based on which they deem to be a good propaganda opportunity, is a frightening thought, but we must remember that as of now, the international community has only seen generosity from companies who were once seen as the evil neglectors to those suffering from some of the most awful and ancient diseases on the planet.
ReplyDeleteChina believes that the question that we should be answering should be one focused around what the international community does after we receive these donations. It is due to the generous donations by companies such as GSK, Pfizer, Bayer, Sanofi, etc., that the international community has become extremely close to eliminating many of the 17 NTDs. But, that being said, if we want to make sure that those donations will be available for future generations, we must make donations as large as what is required, sustainable for these companies, and organize the way that the international community distributes these donations to the affected population in a timely and efficient manner.
After a large initial donation of 14 billion treatments from large pharma companies in 2012 and a commitment to aide in the elimination of NTDs by 2020, in 2017 WHO officials pushed these companies yet again to renew their promise, after Sanofi ceased its production of the only available African snake antivenom, creating an estimated 125,000 unnecessary deaths. As stated by Katy Athersuch, the medical and innovation policy advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), “It’s just not in their business model”, showing the decreased interest that these large pharma companies have in not only treating those who have theses diseases now, but also researching and developing (R&D) new treatment options for those who may develop these diseases in the future. According to the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, most of the burden caused by NTDs can be prevented with between 300 and 400 million dollars. With the pharmaceutical industry being worth almost 1000 times that, at around 300 billion dollars, it is easy to scapegoat these companies as not pulling their weight. In addition to this, research and development by these pharma companies focusing on NTDs have dropped almost 193 million dollars, with these companies now only contributing around 12% of all global funding for NTDs.
But, is it fair for us to demand so much of private organizations whose primary goal is to make money, expand their markets and client base, and cater to their most profitable consumers? These aren’t humanitarian organizations or non-governmental organizations, so what can we do as international community to convince these private companies that investing in the health of 1/7th of our global population is profitable? “Governments need to create the environment and incentives, funds and mechanisms, to stimulate R&D. Intellectual property may have stimulated innovative products but when you are in a non-profitable market this is no incentive”, says Bernard Pécoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
China believes this video is extremely interesting in the questions that it inspires, regarding the sustainability of our large dependency on the pharma companies for our treatment options, as well as how we as the international community can streamline the distribution of these medications to the target population.
Research:
Deletehttp://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/Medicine-donation-Revised-4-April-2017.pdf?ua=1
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-diseases-neglected-pharma/big-pharma-donates-drugs-for-neglected-diseases-idUSTRE80T0LO20120130
https://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Article/2017/04/24/WHO-pressures-Big-Pharma-to-donate-more-drugs-for-tropical-diseases
http://www.policymed.com/2012/04/pharmaceutical-companies-pledge-14-billion-for-control-and-elimination-of-neglected-tropical-diseases.html
The Republic of Chad believes that distribution of medicines and vaccines to isolated communities is a crucial factor of disease eradication. Being one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of 664.30 US dollars and dropping, Chad is well versed with a lack of infrastructure, and therefore understands and recognizes the difficulties of providing medicines to places with poor infrastructure. While the generous donations of the pharmaceutical industry have proven effective in the past few years, it is not an effective solution in the long term. Low-income countries cannot depend on donations forever, and therefore Chad finds it necessary that private pharmaceutical companies are incentivized to manufacture products within developing nations. Economically, this would be beneficial for both the pharmaceutical company and the developing nation: building factories would create new jobs for the numerous unemployed people, and these jobs would serve as cheaper labor prospects relative to jobs in more developed countries. The nation that the company is founded in could also provide tax benefits. What this would do is allow for a more efficient, effective, and convenient solution for distributing medical supplies to hard to reach areas. Additionally, having medicines produced in these countries could potentially reduce the stigma that surrounds them in general. With this solution implemented, low income nations can become more independent, and medicines and vaccines can be distributed more effectively.
ReplyDeleteThe Republic of Chile realizes that Neglected Tropical Diseases are prevalent throughout the international community with several key factors limiting their ability to be eradicated. In regards to improving upon health infrastructure in isolated communities, Chile understands that several countries aren’t able to devote enough resources to improving upon infrastructure. For this reason, Chile stresses the importance of public-private partnerships in developing countries to make necessary infrastructural improvements. These partnerships would be able to cover funds that aren’t able to be covered by the public sector, and improve upon the government’s ability to implement the new infrastructure projects as well. In order to ensure that countries have successful partnerships, we see that it is necessary for legal frameworks to be made to increase fairness of the process and make sure that governments know which entities are authorized to enter into these partnerships, approve transactions, and monitor and regulate projects. Chile believes that an outside body can be created to assist countries in creating these legal frameworks. This body would consist of key personnel that would be able to determine the most important facets of each partnership, and draft frameworks laying out specific duties of each governmental entity that would deal with different aspects of the partnership. In addition, we believe that countries can work with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in order for their public-private partnerships to prosper seeing as how the IFC has helped provide $2.6 billion in capital to help provide over $265 billion in finances for businesses in developing countries.
ReplyDeleteMass drug administration (MDA) is a strategy used by organizations such as the World Health Organization, and partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry have been key as seen in the video example. While these donations of medicine have proven to be beneficial, in the long run, it won’t be sustainable for companies to give out large quantities of medicine for several different diseases. Chile sees that a major issue regarding neglected tropical diseases is the fact that they are often neglected by governments due to lack of coverage, and supports increased international publicity for these diseases through more engaged media. The creation of campaigns based around success stories and challenges in programs occurring throughout the world would allow for more attention to be drawn toward these diseases while also helping governments allocate more resources toward diseases that didn’t have appropriate resources in the past.