Pharmaceutical trade policies and access to medicines in Kenya

Abstract

The right to health requires the full integration of TRIPs Agreement flexibilities in pharmaceutical trade policies and the avoidance of TRIPsplus standards to safeguard access to medicines nationally. The article argues that a human rights impact assessment, and specifically a right to health impact assessment, may resolve beforehand the adverse impacts of pharmaceutical trade policies on access to medicines in Kenya. However, Kenya, as in many other developing countries, has not yet embraced the HRIA tool in its trade policy processes even though the theory and methodology of HRIA or RHIA exist. The key finding of the article is that many trade policy makers in Kenya are not adequately prepared in terms of their knowledge and attitude to implement the HRIA or RHIA as a routine process in trade.