MSF welcomes vital resolution at Planet Overall health Assembly to strengthen countries’ illness testing capacity – Planet

Governments must now implement the resolution to attain aim of enhancing access to testing for all individuals

Background:

26 Might 2023 – Governments passed a resolution right now at the 76th annual Planet Overall health Assembly (WHA) to strengthen countries’ diagnostic testing capacity. The resolution was proposed by Indonesia and governments of the African Area. With pretty much half of the worldwide population possessing tiny or no access to testing, Médecins Sans Frontières/Medical doctors Without having Borders (MSF) welcomed this resolution as an important step towards enhancing worldwide access to diagnostic tools. To guarantee this resolution becomes reality, MSF encourages nations to promptly take the essential actions to implement the resolution: nations must guarantee that important diagnostic tools and tests are very affordable and accessible nationwide, and assistance nearby production of diagnostic tools and tests in low- and middle-revenue nations (LMICs).

Dr Salha Issoufou, Director of Operations for MSF West and Central Africa:

“Ignorance is not bliss when you are dealing with illness outbreaks: timely access to the ideal testing tools is a single of the most essential components of any healthcare intervention to curb an outbreak and save lives, so it is encouraging to see access to testing getting discussed at a worldwide level.

“We are generally faced with an absence or restricted availability of tests, as there are generally just no tests on the marketplace that are adapted for the remote, emergency conditions we function in. So, we finish up sending samples to far away laboratories, if there are any, which can imply weeks or months of waiting prior to obtaining outcomes. Delays like this can imply delayed responses to outbreaks and lives getting unnecessarily lost, and this is unacceptable. The issue is, it does not have to be this way: the COVID pandemic showed us that fast, simple-to-use diagnostic tests can be abundantly accessible, as they have been to wealthy nations at the front of the queue. We know it is probable to make tests accessible and accessible, there must be no double normal in access to lifesaving healthcare testing.

“We urge all governments to make confident every person has access to lifesaving tests by swiftly adopting WHO recommendations in national policies, creating national important diagnostics lists (EDL), and making sure nationwide access to important tests for all ailments relevant to the nearby context, which includes neglected ailments, and beyond pandemics alone.”

Stijn Deborggraeve, Diagnostics Advisor, MSF Access Campaign:

“We welcome this vital resolution to strengthen diagnostics capacity, but it have to not stay just ink on paper. To make it a reality for every person, everywhere, we urge all governments to implement the resolution and increase access to diagnostic testing by making sure that top quality-assured tests are very affordable, and by supporting the nearby production of diagnostic tools, in particular in low- and middle-revenue nations.

“Every day we see test shortages in the nations exactly where we function so it is clear that relying on a handful of multinational diagnostics corporations to meet nearby well being desires is not operating. We have to have extra thriving collaborations among nearby test suppliers and governments, like Brazil’s Bio-Manguinhos, which produces testing tools at non-profit rates to address nearby well being desires. Due to the fact, if we hope to increase access to testing for ailments that mostly influence individuals in low- and middle-revenue nations, nearby production in these nations is crucial.”

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Shailly Gupta
+41-79 203 13 02