A/HRC/29/44 society organizations had led the way by extending medical services to rural areas, promoting community drug distribution programmes that pooled transportation costs and providing social support and education for patients. Unfortunately, many national governments in developing countries lacked the political will to take action to protect their citizens. They must act immediately to ensure access to affordable, high quality and safe medicines and promote further investment in research and development. 37. Dimitry Borisov, Executive Director, Equal Right to Life, Russian Federation, asserted that all persons had an equal right to life. Therefore, access to medical care for all categories of patients must be ensured. Unfortunately, in the Russian Federation, there were plans to reduce spending on health care from 3.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product, placing a direct threat to access to medicines. Beyond resources, there were structural barriers to access including inadequate transparency in decision-making processes, insufficient collection of data, and a gap between legislative policies and their financing and execution. Those problems were clearly evident in cancer treatment. The inadequate treatment of cancer patients substantially affected mortality rates and those problems were reflective of the health system of the Russian Federation as a whole. Equal Right to Life promoted a patient-centred approach and advocated fulfilment of State healthcare commitments and intersectoral collaboration. 38. Noel Hayman, Clinical Director, Inala Indigenous Health Service, Australia, described his efforts to extend health care to aboriginal communities, in which life expectancy was 17 years less than for other Australians. He emphasized the importance of quality research and good data to ascertain the origins of health outcome disparities. Research revealed that few indigenous peoples had access to and used primary health-care systems. Results of a focus group demonstrated that many aboriginal Australians were not accessing available health services because of cultural differences making them feel unwelcome. By actions to bridge those cultural differences, including employment of aboriginals in health systems, cultural awareness strategies and educational outreach, the health service had greatly expanded its reach. The key was to understand and acknowledge the culture and community. To further close the health coverage gap for indigenous peoples, the private sector, national and local governments, medical practitioners and communities must continue to collaborate to address their specific medical needs effectively. By so doing, the health service had improved access to affordable medicines. 39. Dr. Sengupta stated that people working together had the power to change health systems by demanding fulfilment of their rights. In India, there was a history of common people uniting to bring about transformative change. Access to medicines had always been an issue for popular mobilization by the masses. Civil society organizations in India campaigned against large pharmaceutical companies and put pressure on the Government to introduce measures that would allow generic pharmaceutical and local production to thrive. Consequently, drug prices in India were 10 per cent or less than global prices, and Indian generics helped reduce the cost of antiretrovirals by more than 40 times. However, the implementation of TRIPS in India posed a threat both for India and importing States. He called for global solidarity and collective action to address that threat, preserve the generic industry of India, resist pressure to adopt TRIPS-plus agreements and improve access to medicines for all. 40. During the interactive dialogue, there were interventions from Dr. Mohamed and Dr. Schiavon, representatives of Panama, the United States of America, WHO, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, Maloca Internationale, Third World Network and the Union for International Cancer Control. Issues included the following: access to opioids and palliative care; patenting and criminalization of traditional medicines; cancer treatment; use and standardization of essential medicine lists; acquisition, receipt, distribution and storage of medicines; impact of changing political regimes on 12