November 2011

Theme: Universal access to health technologies, regulation and health surveillance in the international context

Lecturer: José Agenor Álvares da Silva
Director of the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance – ANVISA
Moderator: José Paranaguá de Santana
PAHO/WHO consultant in Brazil, Coordinator of the NETHIS Project
Coordinator: Volnei Garrafa
Professor of the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences. Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Bioethics at the University of Brasilia

Summary

On 24 November the tenth meeting of the year of 2011 “Cycle of Debates on Bioethics, Diplomacy and Public Health” was held, sponsored by the Center for Bioethics and diplomacy studies in health (NETHIS), in partnership with the graduate program in bioethics at the University of Brasilia (UnB) – Unesco Chair – with the support of the Regional Direction of Brasilia of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ Brasília) and the Pan American Health Organization (Paho/WHO/Brasil).

This meeting was about the cycle theme “universal access to health technologies, regulation and health surveillance in the international context” and attended, as a lecturer, by Dr. José Agenor Álvares da Silva-Director of the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA). As a coordinator, the event was attended by Dr. Volnei Garrafa (UnB).

The speaker proposed to present a vision of universal access to technologies. He began by reporting that the term health surveillance is a Brazilian creation. In the USA and in Europe there are agencies on medicines and foods. In Brazil, the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance has, at the same time, regulatory and supervisory function. He stressed that health, regarded in art. 6, sole paragraph, of law No. 808090, is a product of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) whose access and coverage are universal.

This cycle of debates represented oce again a relevant contribution to the construction of NETHIS works. Especially, it is important to note the depth of the debate around the access to new technologies in the context of international relations and, in particular, South-South cooperation.

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