WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE
Regional Office for the Western Padnc Bureau regional du PacUique occidental
REGIONAL COMMITTEE
WPRJRC39!fechnical Discussions/2 23 August 1988
Thirty-ninth session Manila 12-16 September 1988
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN THE HEALTH FIELD Technical Discussions
The rapid development of technology over the last 25 years makes it imperative to review the entire technology transfer process. This must be based on the interaction between health and technology and take into account differences in social, cultural, political and economic conditions. The transfer process must ensure the timely application of technologies where they are most needed while giving due consideration to such matters as equity, self-reliance, use at the appropriate level, affordability and effectiveness. Regional interest in the promotion of the development, use and transfer of technology is reflected in resolution WPR/RC38.R 18, adopted by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacitic at its thirty-eighth session in 1987, which decided that 'Technology Transfer in the Health Field" should be the topic for the Technical Discussions to be held in conjunction with the thirty-ninth session.
WPR/RC39/fechnical Discussions/2 page2
i. INTRODUCfiON AND BACKGROUND In the course of implementing strategies to achieve health-for-all goals, there was a growing realization that the current concept of technical cooperation was not broad enough to include the whole range of activities involved in making full use of technology in dealing with health problems, particularly in the Third World.
An effort has been made by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific to develop the strategy for health technology transfer through meetings such as the following: a) b) The Western Pacific Advisory Committee on Heaith Research (WPACHR), since 1976; A joint WHO South-East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region meeting of directors of health research councils and analogous bodies, 1984; A working group on international cooperation in technology transfer in the health field, 1985; and A bi-regional conference on technology transfer in the health field, 1987.
c)
d)
From all these discussions, a new concept of technology transfer has evolved, which could be adopted as the framework within which to strengthen technical cooperation. Some of the recommendations were adopted as guidelines for technology transfer in the Western Pacific Region in 1988. 2. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND PRIMARY HEALTH CARE The emergence of primary health care as the major strategy to achieve health for all has made it essential that existing appropriate technologies should be immediately incorporated in health programmes. Since WHO has been the leading proponent of both the goal and the strategy, it must become deeply involved in the application of technology to the solution of health problems. The rapid advances in health technology, resulting from radically new concepts in the biological and physical sciences, will require increasing emphasis on the active management of technology transfer processes. 3. GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 3.1 The availability of appropriate technological support is a vital component of the primaryhealth-care strategy. A prime consideration is that such support should conform to the principle· of equity between nations, communities and individuals. 3.2 The capacity of a country to-absorb health technology is determined to a great extent by its ability to share in the development itself of the technology. Thus an adequate national science and technology infrastructure will ensure not only that the technology selected is appropriate but also that its application can be continually updated, thereby contributing to self-reliance.
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3.3 There must be thorough systematic planning, based on a good understanding of transfer processes, before health technology is applied at every level. This is true of all countries, but especially of the user countries of the Third World. 3.4 In an increasingly interdependent world of rapid technological advances and almost instantaneous communication, well-thought-out programmes of international cooperation in health technology will be a prerequisite for productive partnership among nations and institutions. The present concept of technical cooperation is too narrow to accommodate such rapid changes, and agencies such as WHO will therefore have to broaden their vision to encompass integrated approaches to technology transfer. 4. COMPONENTS AND PROCESSES OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 4.1 The components and processes based on the guiding principles are illustrated in the diagram below.
UPSTREAM
DOWNSTREAM
ASSESSMENT OF SELECTION
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE
OEVELOPMEI'IT - - - - 1 .. ~ ACOUISmm; ----l·t>- APPLICATIO!\
Heallh technology: an association or methods, techniques and equipment which together with the people using them can contribute significantly to solving a health problem. (sortware, hardware, manpower)
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4.2 The transfer process can be illustrated by using examples from the fields of vaccination and informatics. There are three stages of transfer: development, acquisition and application. In the case of the expanded programme on immunization, apart from vaccine development itself, application was mainly a matter of providing an adequate cold chain system, coupled with the training of field personnel, after an initial trial process of development and acquisition. The main activities involved in establishing informatics programmes are the acquisition of hardware and software and their adaptation for application in certain situations with national staff training. Tonga provides a good example of this. A complete transfer of technology would also include a well developed science and technology infrastructure capable of modifying and adapting existing technologies as well as developing and producing new ones.
5. IMPLICATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER STRATEGY 5.1 The adoption of this concept as a reference point for its action will have implications lor WHO's strategic direction as the 21st century approaches. A strategy aimed at restoring the balance between policy advocacy and the provision of technical inputs by WHO will help to maintain the Organization's leadership in international health, and enhance its ability to deal with health problems effectively. 5.2 Initially, strategy should be based on the guiding principles of technology transfer for health as part of a specific problem-oriented programme developed within the context of health for all. In addition, this concept recognizes the value of equity and self-reliance. The programme must ensure that appropriate means and methods are available for the solution of health problems. Successful examples already exist in the Western Pacific Region. One of these is the process by which WHO, in collaboration with the Japanese Government, initiated a project in China on Hepatitis B vaccine production. China is now able to produce the vaccine for almost its entire domestic needs. 5.3 It is recognized that the international donor community will continue to play a major role in the transfer of health technology. New initiatives in this field will generate more opportunities for international cooperation.