TRADE AGREEMENTS IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR: COVID-19 AND A NEW REALITY?

Abstract

International Trade is the vehicle in which the global economy is run. States in the bid to achieve sustainable economic growth have over the years, embraced the tenets of International Trade while adopting trade policies that fosters same. This has been made possible by trade agreements facilitated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to guide trading activities among States. The COVID-19 Pandemic threw a spanner in the wheel of free flow of goods and services, health care in this instance, across the globe forcing States to adopt protective measures, albeit in the interim, aimed at self-preservation. This has contributed in no small measure in disrupting the global health care system. In acknowledging the knee-jerk measures which States deployed to save their respective economies, the question remains, whether these measures would form a blue print for global trade in the future after the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 Pandemic had passed. There is no time, better than one, to welcome trade agreements that not only address the trade challenges in the global health care system but equally improves mechanisms to accessibility to health care for all and guards it against future shocks. This article highlights the primary norms of International Trade accepted and adopted by States for years before the Pandemic struck and equally attempts a summary of the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic, its origin, mode of transmission etc. The article further addresses the direct consequence of this pandemic on global trade on health care and poses a way forward to not only mitigate the havoc caused and restore the global economy but prepare the world in the event of future health shocks by revamping Trade agreements to strengthen the global health production, supply and distribution chain. The author hopes that the reader would appreciate the need for increased and improved trade relations in health care between States and adoption of trade policies and agreements required to revive and strengthen health care in domestic economies as well as foster global trade.