TPP may yet prove to be good for health care

THIS week, trade negotiators from some of the world's most powerful economies are meeting in Hawaii to thrash out the final stages of the Trans Pacific Partnership. This free trade agreement - which includes the US, Canada, Australia, a number of Latin American countries and Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Brunei - stands to become a significant milestone in the deeper integration of the global economy.

Despite the economic potential of the TPP, many commentators fear that improved access by middle-income countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam to lucrative markets such as the US will come at a cost to human health.

In particular, non-governmental organisations fear that poorer TPP countries will be forced, as part of the deal, to accept tough new intellectual property rules that will undermine the ability of local health care systems to procure cheap generic drugs, thereby denying essential medicines to the sick and dying.