On May 3, 1993 the World Health Assembly called on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to encourage the support of all partners in health development, including non-governmental organizations (NGO) and private voluntary organisations – thus marking the begining of the public-private partnerships. WHO members raised concern of vested interests influencing decisions, but alleged safeguards are put in place to remedy this possibility. [1, 2]
The WHO knew that “over time informal exchanges may lead to the development of formal relations between WHO and NGOs”. [3, 4] Which by 2002 was already a huge list.
Three months after taking office as WHO Director General and armed with her promise to “change the course of things” and “make a difference“, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland initiated a meeting with ten senior pharmaceutical representatives of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA) who, on October 21, 1998, decided join forces to help 100 million people world wide who are “deprived of easy access to the most essential drugs and vaccines”.
The United Nations in 2012 reported the growing concern about the “influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the UN.”