Healing touch
after nearly two years of negotiations, poor countries will finally have access to cheaper medicines following a deal clinched at the World Trade Organization (wto) in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 30, 2003. The agreement was aimed at establishing the modalities of how countries without domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity or with inadequate facilities could access cheaper generic versions of patented drugs during a public health crisis. Some critics, however, fear that the conditions stipulated for the intended beneficiaries are too burdensome and potentially discouraging.
During the final days of negotiations, a statement issued by the chairperson of the General Council