Designs of Healthcare Trade

This paper analyses the impact of information technology on cost, efficiency and equity as drivers of cross-border trade and investments in healthcare. But there is still need for more research on how IT affects costs of diagnosis and treatment with regard to specific disease burdens to resolve tensions between efficiency and equity as internationally agreed conventions such as TRIPS, CBD and BWC do not apply in equal measure in all WTO national jurisdictions. The persistence of unresolved conflicts of rights and conflicts of interests point to the need for new international arrangements to be mandated and resourced yet the extent to which this can be achieved is uncertain.