In a first-ever tripartite meeting this year, the heads of the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),  have agreed to step up their collaboration on tools and resources for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.   The meeting was the first formal tripartite meeting since Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was elected as head of WTO earlier this spring, following the election of Daren Tang as the new head of WIPO late last year.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting the three heads of agencies, including WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pledged to collaborate more closely on a joint platform for tripartite technical assistance to member governments relating to their needs for medical technologies as well as a series of workshops – to augment capacity and information flow.

In a joint statement issued following their meeting 15 June, the three agency heads stated that they would ramp up cooperation focusing first on “the organization of practical, capacity-building workshops to enhance the flow of updated information on current developments in the pandemic and responses to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies.

“The aim of these workshops is to strengthen the capacity of policymakers and experts in member governments to address the pandemic accordingly.

“The first workshop in the series will be a workshop on technology transfer and licensing, scheduled for September. The workshop will help our members update their knowledge and understanding of how intellectual property, know-how and technology transfer work in actuality. This would be in the context of medical technologies and related products and services. This first workshop will be followed by others on related practical themes.”

A second prong of the joint initiative, will be the joint platform for technical assistance, that aims to provide “a one-stop shop that will makae available the full range of expertise on access, IP and trade matters provided by our organizations, and other partners, in a coordinated and systematic manner.”  The platform will focus, in particular, on:

• supporting countries to assess and prioritize unmet needs for COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and related technologies, and;
• providing “timely and tailored technical assistance in making full use of all available options to access vaccines, medicines and technologies, including through coordination between members facing similar challenges to facilitate collective responses.”

The effort would also include “periodical update” of baseline resources maintained by the three organizations, mapped in the joint publication:  “Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade”, the statemnt said.

The initiative appears to bring WIPO closer into the circle that has already been established by WTO and WHO on pandemic response – following last year’s change of administration in the agency that maintains a critical repository of data on intellectual property on health products for manufacturers worldwide – but has been too often accused of remaining outside of the loop of practical advice on IP use to low- and middle-income countries.

Image Credits: World Trade Organization .