TRIPS and public health

Public health has been one of the most extensively discussed aspects of the TRIPS Agreement, both in terms of the treaty text itself and its implementation at the domestic level. Its significance is borne out by a proclamation at the ministerial level, the 2001 Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (Doha Declaration), and by the ensuing amendment of the Agreement itself, the first amendment of any WTO multilateral trade agreement, undertaken specifically to provide the most vulnerable countries with an additional secure legal pathway to gain access to affordable generic medicines.