WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Monday convened a dialogue between the health, industry, and science and technology sectors in the region with the aim of preventing interruptions in medical product supplies during future health emergencies.

“The scarcity of medical products can cause disruptions in health care and put health and life at risk,” said PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne.

“That’s why it’s a priority for health, science and technology, and industry to work together to ensure equitable access to medicines and other essential technologies not only in peacetime, but also during future emergencies,” the Dominica-born PAHO director said.

ECLAC executive director, Alicia Bárcena, said that “the health industry is a strategic sector and we are challenged to combine its social objectives of meeting the health needs of the population with its regional economic development possibilities”.

“Integrated health, science and technology, and industrial policies guided by this challenge and mission, and under a public-private partnership, are essential to this,” she added.

The two organisations said the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has demonstrated structural weaknesses in health systems in the region and the basis for rethinking development, as well as the vulnerability of global supply chains, with import restrictions and insufficient availability of medical products and health technologies to meet large increases in demand.

In addition, the region has a health manufacturing industry which, with some exceptions, is not well developed and has low levels of technological sophistication, leading to high dependence on external products; according to ECLAC estimates, only four per cent of imports of medical products related to the response to COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean originated in the region itself.

PAHO and ECLAC have agreed on the need for a renewed vision of comprehensive policies, which considers the objectives and needs of the health sector and encourages industrial development in the sector.

They said the challenge is to move towards an integrated regional market for medicines and other health technologies, based on country-shared research and production networks.

“If the necessary scale is reached, this market could reduce external dependence and ensure access to the medical products needed to meet regional demand,” they added.

A statement following the meeting noted that participants from ministries of health and science and technology, as well as representatives of associations of the medicines industry and other technologies in developing countries, also discussed the regional situation and prospects for implementing comprehensive policies, as well as conditions for improving productive capacity.

In addition, they exchanged information on national initiatives for equitable access to medicines and other health technologies, the statement added.