Leading public health officials are worried the new chief of the World Health Organisation may not have the strength to stand up to Washington on drug and sexual health policy, writes The Push Journal, Tuesday.
The new Director-General is due to be appointed Wedenesday.
Critics say WHO has been largely controlled behind the scenes by the US, its biggest donor, accused by many of promoting the interests of its pharmaceuticals industry and the Bush administration’s ideological line on issues like abortion.
– The U.S. government has a direct role in every significant decision made in Geneva, and even close to a veto role, said Dr. Richard Horton, editor of the influential medical journal, The Lancet.
In one prominent case, the United States recently requested the suppression of a book commissioned by WHO that criticized U.S. free trade agreements for jeopardizing poor countries’ access to cheap medicines.
In a letter to WHO’s acting director-general, a senior official from the U.S. Department of Health said the report “spuriously” (på falsk vis (red.)) characterized U.S. trade policy.
The episode has incited two U.S. Democrats, Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Henry Waxman, to call for an investigation into how American trade agreements threaten the health of people in developing countries.
For many, the clearest sign of U.S. meddling came in January, when WHO’s top official in Thailand was stripped of his post after he said in an editorial that a U.S.-Thai free trade agreement would jeopardize Thai access to cheap drugs, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of AIDS patients.
The official, Dr. William Aldis, was dispatched to the WHO’s regional office in New Delhi, India, and was given no explanation for his demotion.
The United States denies it had anything to do with Aldis’ transfer.
– We had no role in that, said Bill Hall, a spokesman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Though Hall says Washington formally complained to the WHO about the editorial, he said no suggestions were made about disciplining Aldis.
Republican US policies have had a “chilling” effect on condom distribution in Africa, a WHO official who works on HIV/AIDS said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.
– As soon as the word ‘abortion’ appears, there is likely to be severe scrutiny from the Director-General’s office, said a WHO official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Advocacy groups say a free trade agreement with the United States could jeopardize all that: in exchange for increased trade with Washington, Thailand would be obliged to tighten its intellectual property laws, making it harder to produce generic drugs without the consent of the company holding the patent.
In reproductive health, Washington allegedly has delayed the approval of lists of essential medicines for countries because they included drugs that could induce abortions.
In malaria control, WHO’s recent endorsement of the use of the controversial pesticide DDT was seen by some in the malaria world as a capitulation to the American industries that produce it since other equally effective alternatives exist.
Kilde: www.pushjournal.org
