Plan to stimulate research in developing countries is put on hold

Health officials have failed to come to an agreement on a binding convention on stimulating research and development focusing on the health problems of developing countries. Last week’s World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization’s decision making body, saw negotiations throughout the week on a report published by WHO in April. A key recommendation of that report was that all countries—developing and developed—should commit around 0.01% of their gross domestic product to research into and development of treatments for the health problems of developing countries. The United States (despite the fact that it already meets this target), the European Union, and Japan blocked this recommendation, and instead member states agreed on the final day of the assembly that the report would be …