37th CONVOCATION PROGRAMME BOOK

45 CONFERMENT OF IBN KHALDUN MERIT AWARD FOR GLOBAL SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL ASIA-PACIFIC (HAIAP) Health Action International Asia-Pacific (HAIAP) is an independent organization that has a global network and was initiated in 1981. The founders are Dato’ Seri Dr. Anwar Fazal (Malaysia), Dr. Mira Shiva (India), Dr. Kumariah Balasubramaniam (Sri Lanka) and Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury (Bangladesh). It is the Asian arm of the HAI network and consists of non-governmental organizations and individuals of the Asia Pacific region, who are activists in health and pharmaceutical issues. HAIAP strives toward increasing access to essential medicines and improving their rational use through research excellence, evidence-based advocacy, education and action campaigns. Among the countries that are actively involved in HAIAP are India, Thailand, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. HAIAP upholds health as a fundamental human right and aspires to build a just and equitable society in which there will be, among others, regular access to essential medicines to all who need them irrespective of their ability to pay for them. Additionally, the organization strongly advocates the rational use of drugs, especially in the Asia Pacific region, where regulations relating to pharmaceuticals still have substantial room for improvement. The main objectives of HAIAP are: - i. To promote the concepts of essential drugs and their rational use. ii. To campaign for the removal of harmful, irrational and unnecessarily expensive drugs. iii. To provide objective drug information for prescribers and consumers to increase their awareness of the concepts of essential drugs and their rational use. iv. To encourage governments to implement national drug policies. v. To ensure the availability of quality healthcare and safe and effective drugs of good quality at affordable prices to all who need them. vi. To call upon governments to adapt to their own needs the criteria listed in the WHO document “Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion”. This will assist regulatory drug authorities to control drug marketing in their respective countries. As to date, the organisation is actively conducting its advocacy through various initiatives such as organizing consultations /seminars/workshops; producing publications; public access to information via HAIAP website; and providing advisory services. The availability of sub-standard medicines is a real issue in developing countries. These products may contain toxic doses of dangerous ingredients and cause mass poisoning. These include counterfeit medicines that are illegal imitations of legitimate products that are meant to deceive patients. Realising the danger this poses to human life, HAIAP through its network published articles and a book entitled ‘Falsified and Sub-standard Medicines: Danger of Death’ that explains what measures must be taken to improve the situation for the most deprived countries and the essential role played by the World Health Organization (WHO) with its Pre-qualification Programme, not just on selected medicines, but on all essential medicines. In India, under the advocacy of HAIAP a policy paper on ‘Pharmaceutical policy and access to essential medicines’ has successfully been published after a campaign recommendation was developed from a seminar that addressed the pharmaceutical policy in India which includes principles of equality and non-discrimination, transparency, participation, and accountability.