A/HRC/29/44 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, access to medicines was a core obligation. Medicines must be affordable, acceptable, accessible, of good quality, and made available without discrimination. Yet, 2 billion men, women and children had no access to essential medicines. Ms. Connors called on the international community to take immediate steps to rectify that tragedy, including by building production capacity in developing countries, allowing access to generic drugs and enhancing research and development relating to treatment for neglected diseases. 6. Joachim Rücker, President of the Human Rights Council, affirmed his support for the Social Forum as a subsidiary body of the Council, bringing together multiple stakeholders including Member States, civil society and others. The Forum provided a unique space enabling constructive engagement to discuss practical solutions to real life problems including at the grass-roots level. He called for immediate action to strengthen health systems, establish universal health coverage and ensure access to safe and efficacious medicines. Recent tragedies, like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, illustrated the need for immediate measures to strengthen health systems with rights-based solutions that affirmed peoples’ dignity and ensured their well-being. In moving forward, including on access to medicines in the post-2015 development agenda, respect for human rights must be the ultimate foundation upon which rested the legitimacy of the actions of governments, international institutions and corporations. III. Summary of proceedings3 A. Keynote speakers and general statements 7. Deqo Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation in Somalia, described its work. With limited resources, it had provided health care to over a million people in a war-torn, rural setting. She advocated a holistic approach to health-care delivery by improving access to clinics (roads and infrastructure), training medical personnel and building health facilities. The Foundation also developed the skills of grassroots communities. The Hawa Abdi Village that had grown around the clinic represented a bastion of security and community. While international non-governmental organizations contributed to programmes, their roles were often temporary, leaving a vacuum following their departure. Support was required to establish a functioning public health system, including through training community health workers and improved use of technology. Mobile phones, for example, could facilitate communication between patients and health personnel, where physical access was difficult. A renewed focus on sustaining access to medicines was needed, including by empowering people through education designed to promote their independence. 8. Jorge Bermudez, Vice-President of Health Production and Innovation, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministry of Health, Brazil, discussed the impact of international trade agreements on access to medicines and the need to integrate right to health considerations in negotiations. The TRIPS Agreement should not impede the realization of the right to health. In its negotiations, Brazil advocated measures to uphold the right to health. It had explicitly embraced that right in its domestic laws and policies, including by guaranteeing universal access to health care and linking health and development. Brazil had used publicprivate partnerships to reduce medicine costs and develop local expertise. It had also employed price regulation, essential medicines lists and other domestic policies. Those 3 4 Statements and presentations made available to the Secretariat are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/SForum/Pages/StatementSForum2015.aspx.