Rio hosts workshop on biodiversity and health knowledge

Publication date: planned summit themes included equity in intellectual property and distribution of benefits.

WHO reports that its director general met a civil society coalition on 3 July before the global medicine summit.

WHO says representatives of more than 300 civil society organizations joined the virtual meeting.

Participants discussed inherited community practices and their relationship to health system priorities.

The civil society dialogue fed into WHO work on data, regulation and equitable access.

The Rio programme included Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants alongside health authorities and practitioners.

The workshop planned discussions of biodiversity and medicinal plants in community health.

The opening day began four days of dialogue on how biodiversity sustains health knowledge and practices.

The feature describes contributions from many communities to treatments and health practices.

WHO notes smallpox inoculation in Asia and parts of Africa long before Jenner; the date is the article’s publication date.