The Responsibility-Sharing of Nation-States and the ACT-Accelerator

Document Type : Viewpoint

Authors

Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

Keywords

Main Subjects


 

Introduction

 

To bring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to an end and begin the process of social, economic and public health recovery, international cooperation for the continued development and equitable distribution of high-quality diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines is necessary. Although critics have rightly pointed out that achieving universal coverage and equitable access to these health technologies would require reforms to intellectual property rules as well as increased global manufacturing capacity,1 in the meantime the ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator’ (ACT-Accelerator), led by the World Health Organization (WHO), is the only global multilateral effort designed to ensure the worldwide distribution of these products. In this viewpoint, we focus on what it would take to fully fund this mechanism and make it successful on its own terms... (Read more...)

  1. MSF. WTO COVID-19 TRIPS waiver proposal. Published 2020. https://msfaccess.org/sites/default/files/2020-12/COVID_TechBrief_MSF_AC_IP_TRIPSWaiverMythsRealities_ENG_Dec2020.pdf. Accessed March 18, 2021.
  2. WHO. Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Published online 2020. https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/about. Accessed March 18, 2021.
  3. World Health Organization (WHO). ACT-Accelerator: Status Report and Plan. WHO; 2020.
  4. World Health Organization (WHO). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. WHO; 1948.
  5. WHO. Constitution of the World Health Organization: Amendments to Articles 24 and 25, Adopted by the Fifty-First World Health Assembly at Geneva May 16, 1998. United States Department of State; 2005.
  6. UN General Assembly. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. United Nations, Treaty Series; 1966. No. 14531.
  7. UN Economic and Social Council. General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant). Published 11 August, 2000.
  8. Kavanagh M, Cohn J, Mabote L, et al. Evolving human rights and the science of antiretroviral medicine. Health Hum Rights. 2015;17(1):E76-90.
  9. Dellink R, Elzen Md, Aiking H, et al. Sharing the burden of financing adaptation to climate change. Glob Environ Change. 2009;19(4):411-421. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.07.009
  10. Voigt C. Sustainable Development as a Principle of International Law. Martius Nijhoff Publishers; 2009.
  11. Economist Intelligence Unit. The COVID-19 Health Funding Tracker. Published 2021. https://covidfunding.eiu.com/. Accessed January 14, 2021.
  12. World Bank. How does the World Bank classify countries? Published 2021. https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/378834-how-does-the-world-bank-classify-countries. Accessed January 14, 2021.
  13. Dowd R, McAdam J. International cooperation and responsibility-sharing to protect refugees: what, why and how? Int Comp Law Q. 2017;66(4):863-892. doi:10.1017/s0020589317000343
  14. UN General Assembly. Refugees and stateless persons. UN General Assembly. Published December 3, 1949:A/RES/319.
  15. UNSD. GNI at current prices-US dollars. Published online 2021. https://unstats.un.org/home/. Accessed March 18, 2021.
Volume 11, Issue 11
November 2022
Pages 2765-2768
  • Receive Date: 19 March 2021
  • Revise Date: 09 April 2021
  • Accept Date: 11 April 2021
  • First Publish Date: 05 May 2021