Health Alliance for Democracy, together with the ILPS Health Commission and the People's Health Movement–Southeast Asia, calls on the World Health Organization (WHO) to admit accountability over the Dengvaxia fiasco. "The World Health Organization is privy to the unfinished clinical trial of Dengvaxia. It has allowed transnational corporations (TNCs) like Sanofi to hold its reigns and impose medical intervention based on commercial considerations," said Dr. Joseph Carabeo, HEAD Secretary General.
"Two members of WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization have links with Sanofi. This is the same group within WHO that recommended the use of Dengvaxia in March 2016," said Dr. Carabeo. "Corporate interests may have well permeated into the ranks of WHO to push for profit over health."
"Globally, TNCs already exert enormous power over governments and International Financial Institutions. Through Public-Private Partnerships, which the WHO has also strongly endorsed almost a decade ago, they are becoming major players in many areas of public policy making, including health," added Carabeo.
Under term partnerships, the private sector participates in diverse activities such as corporate donation, sponsorship, research collaboration, negotiation or public tenders, and contracting out of selected health services. It also includes global health alliances, such as the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which involve high-level policy interactions between United Nations agencies, corporations, and private foundations that propagate a business philosophy.
"To make matters worse, the WHO is now the foremost proponent of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to prop up the image of a stinking healthcare system, with the Department of Health (DOH) as one of its faithful lieutenant," Carabeo added. UHC echoes the DOH's PhilHealth coverage. It is anchored on a finance strategy where healthcare coverage will be through health insurance, instead of directly funding the country's public healthcare system.
"In essence, the people's right to health is now reduced to 'health benefit packages' subject to conditions for insurance reimbursements. It is nothing but more privatization and corporatization!"
"The Dengvaxia fiasco and the deceptive UHC are both symptoms of corporate takeover on healthcare with the WHO's blessing. They milk profits out of government funds and Filipinos with measly wages and unsteady sources of income: profits that big pharmaceuticals and politicians are happy to pocket and spend on luxuries," lamented Carabeo. "WHO has indeed become a very effective partner of big businesses for their quest for huge profits at the expense of people's health. WHO's UHC is nothing but Universal Health Coverage for Profit," Carabeo ended.##
