Jan 1, 2003

Respected Sir/Madam,

We write this letter to place on record our opposition to the the proposal being put forward by the US and EU delegations at the TRIPS council on the interpretation of the Doha Declaration.

For citizens in developing countries such as ours, there can be no compromise on the scope of the diseases to be covered under the definition of public health. We therefore place on record our support to the stand that public health should not be limited to a handful of diseases.

Further we learn that an attempt is being made to exclude vaccines - this is completely unacceptable. It must be left to member countries to determine what constitutes public health, and not determined by other countries who may not be in a position to comprehend the nature of health problems and disease facing the poorer countries.

We therefore request all developing and developed countries to desist from applying a limited definition to the definition of public health.

We hope that our statement is taken on record and passed on to all country delegates.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Bharath Jairaj
Legal co-ordinator