Health Action International Asia Pacific

Health Action International (HAI) is an informal network of 160 member organisations and individuals focusing on health, development, consumer and other public interests in over seventy countries.

Founded in Geneva in 1981, HAI’s objectives lie in the promotion of the rational use of drugs, to ensure regular availability of quality healthcare and, the distribution of safe, effective and good quality medicines to all at affordable prices.

Health Action International is working towards a world where people, especially the poor and disadvantaged, have a human right to health and an equitable access to affordable quality primary health care. HAI works toward just societies where people can equitably participate in the decision making and allocation of resources.

HAI promotes the essential medicines concept (that fewer than 350 medicines are necessary to treat more than 90 per cent of health problems requiring medicines).

HAI works toward increasing access to these essential medicines and ensuring that they are available at affordable prices when treatment is needed, especially for the poor.

HAI advocates for greater transparency in all aspects of decision making around pharmaceuticals for example, by reducing industry secrecy and control over important clinical data.

HAI promotes the rational use of medicines: that all medicines marketed should meet real medical needs; have therapeutic advantages; be acceptably safe and offer value for money.

HAI works for better controls on drug promotion and the provision of balanced, independent information for prescribers and consumers.

In March 1986, Action for Rational Drugs in Asia (ARDA), was founded at the Planning Meeting for the Asian Drug Campaign held in Penang, Malaysia. ARDA, hosted by Consumers International Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (CIROAP), was to function as the Asia arm of the HAI network. In 2001 the founder members decided to move ARDA out of CIROAP and relocate to Sri Lanka. Following this, in March 2002 ARDA was registered as a Non-Governmental organisation called Health Action International Asia-Pacific (HAIAP), with its own legal entity.

HAIAP works with members and allies towards achieving its goals. A 7-member governing council is the highest policy-making body for HAIAP.

The main objectives of Health Action International Asia-Pacific are:

- to promote the concepts of essential drugs and their rational use;

- to campaign for the removal of harmful, irrational and unnecessarily expensive drugs;

- to provide objective drug information for prescribers and consumers in order to increase their awareness of the concepts of essential drugs and their rational use;

- to encourage governments to implement national drug policies;

- to ensure the availability of quality healthcare and, safe and effective drugs of good quality at affordable prices to all who need them;

- to call upon governments to adopt to their own needs the criteria listed in WHO document “Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion”. This will assist national drug regulatory authorities to control drug marketing in their respective countries;

Thanks to the generosity of our funders and the invaluable support of our network partners HAIAP is in a position to work towards its goals. It receives a major part of its funding from the DUTCH GOVERNMENT AGENCY OF INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION (DGIS), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Finnish International Development Assistance (FINNIDA) and from the World Health Organization (WHO).

HAIAP has a membership of over 60 including individuals and organizations, and appreciates and welcomes the non-monetary contributions, assistance and support it receives from them.