As pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. The author’s sought to understand how multinational pharmaceutical companies currently engage in CSR activities in developing countries and their motivations for doing so. They conducted a small-scale, exploratory study combining (i) in-depth review of publicly available data on pharmaceutical firms’ CSR with (ii) interviews of representatives from 6 firms, purposively selected, from the highest earning pharmaceutical firms worldwide. Corporate social responsibility differed for each firm. Across the firms studied, the common CSR activities were: differential pharmaceutical pricing, strengthening developing country drug distribution infrastructure, mHealth initiatives, and targeted research and development. Primary factors that motivated CSR engagement were: reputational benefits, recruitment and employee satisfaction, better rankings in sustainability indices, entrance into new markets, long-term economic returns and improved population health. CSR strategies ranged from philanthropic donations to integrated business models. The authors indicate that the study points to the need to (i) develop clearer definitions of CSR in global health (2) strengthen indices to track CSR strategies and their public health effects in developing countries and (iii) undertake more country level studies that investigate how CSR engages with national health systems.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
At a hearing on 16 May 2008 in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, public health and health professionals will demand that corporate interests be balanced with public interest representation on US Industry Trade Advisory Committees (ITACs) that advise the US Trade Representative (USTR) on trade policies affecting public health. Non-profit and public interest organizations have been systematically denied posts on industry-dominated trade advisory committees that impact the health of millions of people around the world.
Sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are a major source of sugar in the diet. Although trends in consumption vary across regions, in many countries, particularly LMICs, their consumption continues to increase. In response, a growing number of governments have introduced a tax on SSBs. SSB manufacturers have opposed such taxes, disputing the role that SSBs play in diet-related diseases and the effectiveness of SSB taxation, and alleging major economic impacts. Given the importance of evidence to effective regulation of products harmful to human health, the authors scrutinised industry submissions to the South African government’s consultation on a proposed SSB tax and examined their use of evidence. The findings not only highlight the value of improving the transparency and scrutiny of regulatory impact assessments and consultations in health policy-making, but also other modes of industry political activity. The authors argue that. efforts need to be made to enhance appraisal of industry use of evidence. Ideally, there should be a presumption in favour of in-depth critical appraisal, organised and financially supported by national governments. Beyond this, there is a strong case for closer transnational collaboration between civil society actors and academics that centres on producing real-time appraisals of companies’ use of evidence in both public consultations and other contexts in which they provide information to policy actors and the public.
Combating international tax avoidance and evasion, corruption and weak governance are crucial if Africa's people are to benefit from the continent's vast natural resource wealth, according to former United Nations secretary general and chair of the African Progress Panel Kofi Annan. He pointed out that trade mispricing, or losses associated with the misrepresentation of export and import values, alongside other illicit outflows cost the continent $38.4-billion and $25-billion respectively between 2008 and 2010. Annan called for a rule-based global system on tax transparency to be developed with the G20. All foreign-owned companies should be required to disclose the ultimate beneficiaries of their profits, he said. Switzerland, the UK and the US – all major conduits – should also signal their intent to clamp down on illicit financial flows. He extended this call to players from other developing nations who have become increasingly active in Africa in the oil, gas and minerals realm. Annan called on major investors in African extractive sectors such as China and emerging investors such as Brazil to also engage. He raised concerns over the structure of investment activity by foreign companies operating in Africa, which is characterised by the extensive use of offshore-registered companies and low tax jurisdictions, and in some cases the complex use of shell corporations.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) hosted the 3rd Africa Trilateral Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2016. Attended by the delegates from the unions affiliated to the three federations; Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and Trade Union Congress, Ghana (TUC); the Summit was held under the theme: Building a progressive workers movement for development alternatives for Arica: Decent work, industrialisation and Job Creation NOW. The Summit proposed formulating alternative growth and development path for both Africa’s industrialisation and a re-industrialisation approach to create jobs and fight poverty and to actively campaign against corruption, illicit financial flows and for tax justice, fair trade and inclusive development. The Summit proposed that unions work to build a democratic developmental state that serves the needs of its people and guarantees peace, justice and security, and to fight for a comprehensive social security system for all workers. The Africa Trilateral Cooperation is the historic relationship between COSATU (South Africa), NLC (Nigeria) and TUC (Ghana) on the African continent.
The following memorandum was handed to His Excellency, Mr Donald Teitelbaum, Chargé d’Affaires, United States of America, on 10 May 2006, by COSATU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, Siphiwe Mgcina, at a picket of the embassy by COSATU members as part of the Jobs and Poverty Campaign. COSATU writes to bring to the reader's attention the potentially detrimental consequences of the memorandum to be faced by the various sectors in South Africa, and the rest of the countries in the South or the developing nations.
COSATU reflected in relation to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of states summit the need for concrete solutions to the concrete problems faced rather than policy statements that do not improve the lives of the people. COSATU identifies the following key issues as key for SADC: desperate conditions of poverty, hunger, and unemployment, human rights abuses, exploitation of natural resources and environmental degradation, job losses and starvation wage crisis, policy crisis and poverty. They call for policies for active industrialisation and to tackle underdevelopment, as raised at the 2016 SADC Civil society Apex Forum and the Southern African Peoples Solidarity Forum held on the sidelines of the SADC Summit. Whilst COSATU welcomed small steps towards a paradigm shift in the Industrialisation policy debate, they called for concrete steps to build the regions manufacturing base and industrial capacity to produce goods and services, in order to stimulate economies and create the much needed jobs, enhance decent work and improve the quality of life for the majority of people and called for bold and inspiring leadership.
The representatives of governments within the region, regional trade related organisations, ESA and SADC, parliamentarians, academia, the business sector, SMEs, labour met in Harare on 3-4 October 2007 to assess the readiness of ESA and SADC EPA configurations to sign an EPA; to take stock of the outstanding issues in the negotiations to date and; and to discuss measures to put in place in the event that the EPA is not signed by December 2007. On the basis of close analysis of the sate of EPA negotiations so far, new proposals and the issues arising, the hurdles met thus far, the challenges that lay ahead and the incisive presentations during the two days, further discussions were held.
The World Health Organization’s report and draft resolution, Principles and Elements of National Legislation against Counterfeit Medical Products, presented at their annual meeting in January emphasises counterfeit medical products as the central health problem pertaining to quality, safety and efficacy of medicines, while paying scant attention to equally significant public health problems of falsely labelled, spurious and substandard drugs. This article discusses the ramifications of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT), which wrote the report and resolution, and concludes that all role players should consider the negative implications of anti-counterfeiting actions, such as how the seizure of suspected intellectual property-infringing medicines in transit will affect access to medicines and the right to health, plus anti-counterfeiting legislation in various countries.
WHO is calling for immediate action to combat the growing trade in counterfeit medicines, which now forms 10% of the global market for medicines. WHO aims to create a global task force to focus on legislation and law enforcement, trade, risk communications and innovative technology solutions, including public-private initiatives for applying new technologies to the detection of counterfeits and technology transfer to developing countries.