On July 5, 2018, UACT participated in the Interactive Hearing held as a part of the preparatory process toward the third High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on NCDs. This blog will be updated with comments/developments throughout the day.
Dr. Manon Ress made the following comment during the panel on “Scaling up action for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.”
“I would like to comment briefly on the point made in this panel regarding the control of NCDs. As a stage 4 cancer patient myself since 2010 I applaud the focus on treatment, and the support for universal health coverage.
You cannot get to universal converage without addressing the soaring prices of drugs that keep me alive today. I have access to Kadcyla for breast cancer, but women in most parts of the world do not. That is both sad and something that can and must be fixed.
UACT wants the push for delinkage of the cost of R&D from end prices, so that Universal access will be feasible.
As Mr James Chau mentioned in his opening statement, this is no time to be civil, if you really want to achieve universal health coverage and save lives, you have to take some counter measures to high prices.”