Right to health impact assessment of trade-related intellectual property rights

Towards Closing the Inequitable Drug Gap: Developing a Right to Health Impact Assessment Tool of Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights for Implementation in Low and Middle Incomes Countries (LMIC)

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has provided catalyst funding to an interdisciplinary group of researchers based out of the University of Toronto to develop a health impact assessment tool for trade-related intellectual property rights, based on standards drawn from the international human right to the highest attainable standard of health (‘the right to health’). This ‘right to health impact assessment’ (RTHIA) tool is intended to enable policy-makers (and social actors) to measure, evaluate and mitigate any potential and/or actual negative impacts of trade-related intellectual property rights on access to affordable medicines. The CIHR project will focus on further strengthening and implementing an RTHIA methodology of trade-related intellectual property rights funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

This website workspace hosted through the Human Rights Impact Assessment Resource Centre provides up-to-date information on the development of the RTHIA tool, the research team’s activities, and an extensive list of resources on the right to health. It also provides an open-access section for comments on the tool, and we invite anyone with expertise or interest to comment on the methodology.

For further information on the project, please contact:

Alex McClelland (research coordinator): mcclelland.alex(at)gmail(dot)com

Lisa Forman (principal investigator): lisa.forman(at)utoronto(dot)ca