Here is my position paper when i was attending Indonesian Model United Nations 2011. At that simulation, i was standing as Zambian ambassador that brought Zambia's stand point at World Trade Organization meeting.
Country   : Zambia
Topic Area   : Patent Protection and Access to Medications
Committee   : World Trade Organization
Zambia is a country which is considered as a least-developed Country (LDC). One of the issues appears in the public welfare is the medication access which for some cases are difficult to be afforded. The diseases which spread out in the land of Zambia are the most dangerous, such as HIV/AIDS, and need a serious treatment to heal it, and it is so expensive. Much people suffer in this situation. There is no much alternative to heal their diseases because the medicine that they need is not affordable for their pocket.
Cause
The patent protection has been a crucial issue in the medication world. In the perspective of developed countries, it should be enforced in order to respect the innovation and invention that have been done by the inventors. The high price of patented medicines is aimed to pay the royalty to the inventors and stimulate them to create much more inventions in the future.
In the perspective of developing and least-developed countries like Zambia, it is unfair because the patented medicines are much more needed in the countries which the buying capabilities to the expensive products are very low. In these countries, those patented medicines are more useful. For example, there are so many researches have been conducted to invent the cure of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TBC). These diseases are much easier to be found in the land of Africa and any other developing and least-developed countries.
Another cause that creates this issue to be crucial is because there are some indications that the medicine producers, which hold the patent of the medicines, reap the profit by using the Patent issue excessively. These activities disadvantage the LDC and developing countries in order to create easier and better medication access to their citizens.
Policy
Minister of Health, Kapembwa Simbao, has directed the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (PRA) to put in place mechanisms for effective monitoring of the manufacture and distribution of medicines in Zambia. The new board consists of 16 members, but more are expected to be appointed as soon as their names are cleared.
Besides the Ministry of Health and PRA, the other organizations represented on the board are the Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia, Medical Council of Zambia, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, General Nursing Council and Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia. Others are Ministry of Local Government and Housing, Veterinary Association of Zambia, Environmental Council of Zambia, Medical Association of Zambia, the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zambia and Consumer Association of Zambia. The rest are Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Department of Pharmacy, UNZA, Office of the Attorney General and one member appointed by the minister.
