Leveraging Trade for Global Health Security: WTO Report Highlights Vital Role of International Cooperation

Strategic Insights -

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has launched a report highlighting the crucial role of international trade in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening global health security. The report, aimed at policymakers and governments, draws lessons from trade policies and international cooperation in medical goods and services during the pandemic. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that trade is a force for good, enabling access to medical goods and services, but also highlighting areas for improvement.

Key Takeaways:

  • The report stresses that open markets can increase access to medical services and goods, including inputs needed to manufacture them, improve their quality and diversity, and reduce costs.
  • Excessive concentration of production, restrictive trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory divergence can jeopardize the ability of public health systems to respond to pandemics and other health crises.
  • The report highlights the unique role that the WTO and the World Bank can play in leveraging trade to improve global health security.
  • The international community can leverage the global trading system in the future to improve the collective response to global crises in the pursuit of global health security.
  • The report looks at the experiences of Morocco and Indonesia in harnessing trade in medical goods and services to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics:

  • The report emphasizes that open trade, combined with government financial support, spurred the innovation that led to the rapid development of vaccines during the COVID-19 crisis.
  • The report highlights the importance of international cooperation, with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stating that "we need greater trade openness -- not economic nationalism."
  • The report stresses that trade openness can increase access to medical services and goods, with the WTO estimating that open trade can reduce costs by 20-30% compared to restricted trade policies.

Sources:

  • World Trade Organisation, "Trade in Medical Goods and Services" report, [ acessible here](https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm).
  • World Trade Organisation, "Launch event of the report on trade in medical goods and services," webcast, [available here](https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spnn/spnn292_e.htm).
  • World Health Organization, [available here](https://www.who.int/).
  • World Bank, [available here](https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/Africa).