Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
trust among the actors and emphasises the importance of transparency in policy
decision-making processes. actors must get the evidence right, including costing and
financing options accurately in proposing alternatives. Progress must be measured,
tracked, and evaluated, and the direction of the policy should be altered if necessary.
The final important step is that all actors involved in health and trade policy must
develop negotiating skills in order to ensure effective and successful cooperation
and collaboration.
Progress in coordinating trade and health policy is being made. at the country
level, countries are increasingly interested in encouraging collaboration between
the ministries of health and trade. India has a trade unit in its health ministry that
can respond quickly to queries on trade and health. thailand has developed a
coordination mechanism so the ministry of trade systematically passes requests that
touch on trade and health to the ministry of health for advice. the trade ministry may
not always follow the advice of the ministry of health, but health experts are engaged
in the process and give their opinions on matters that affect population health.
In terms of global policy coherence and collaboration between the wHo and
the wto, there are high-level policy consultations and governance meetings. the
wto has observer status at wHo governing body meetings and various technical
meetings. the wHo has observer status at the wto's committees on the SPS and
tbt agreements, and
ad hoc
observer status at its councils for the GatS and the
trIPS agreement. there is also collaboration between the two organisations on
research and analysis, country missions, regional and national meetings, training
courses, and informal consultations.
Members of the wHo attend wto ministerial meetings as observers. they sit
in on sessions and can speak when asked to comment; they are asked to leave the
session during formal negotiations. one challenge with speaking at such a meeting,
however, is that diverse and even divergent requests from various groups get bundled
together and the negotiations become more challenging.
Diagnostic Tool and Companion Workbook
the wHo is collaborating with its members and other international organisations
to create a diagnostic tool and companion workbook on trade and health. these are
intended to 'help health and trade ministries more systematically assess trade and
health issues, to empower health ministries to give better advice to their trade
counterparts and to enhance health policy input into the trade community's pursuit
of integrated frameworks, trade policy reviews and aid initiatives to bolster trade
capacities in developing countries' (see appendix 13-3) (Drager and Fidler 2007).
The diagnostic tool examines five components of the trade and health relationship:
macroeconomics, trade, and health; trade in health-related products, including
medicines and issues related to intellectual property; trade in products hazardous
to health, such as tobacco products; trade in health services—e-commerce, health
tourism, foreign direct investment (FDI) in health, cross-border movement of
