Rulemaking and Governance for Trade Intensification Asian Women's Views

This economic literacy pack, the third in this series, is a tool for educating local women's constituencies on trade rules and negotiations. It explores four main themes, firstly 'How the WTO Treats National Health Emergencies in the Rubric of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)'. This section demonstrates how the agreement protects the patent interests of private pharmaceutical firms based in developed countries, while jeopardizing the public health of the poor in developing countries. This is done through, for example, denying disadvantaged groups in the South, particularly women, access to cheaper generic copies of lifesaving medicines for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria treatment that are produced in developed countries. Other themes are 'The Myth of Market Access in the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA)'; 'Entitlement to Food: the Alternative to Market Access'; and 'From Free Trade to Human Freedom'. The pack also contains a literature review of select IGTN resources from Asia, Latin America, the US and Africa.