Davos, May 25 (PTI) Global giant Pfizer on Wednesday committed to providing all its current and future patent-protected medicines on a not-for-profit basis to 45 lower-income countries.

The announcement was made here during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022.

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Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, "We live at a time where science is increasingly able to take on the world's most devastating diseases. But a health equity gap exists, a gap which determines who can access these innovations, and those who cannot."

Rwanda President Paul Kagame said, "Rapid and affordable access to advanced medicines and vaccines is the cornerstone of global health equity."

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The decision aims to bridge this access gap and by doing so, greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world.

Pfizer will provide all medicines and vaccines available in the US or the European Union on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in lower-income countries.

"While we aim to implement the Accord globally, that is not possible right away. So, we have selected a few countries from which to learn from and improve our processes first," Pfizer chief said.

Rwanda and Malawi will be joined by Uganda, Senegal and Ghana.

Speaking about the decision, Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said, "We think that this is a great model -- not only will it get medicines out there - but we can also learn from these pioneering countries and apply lessons learned before expanding the Accord."

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said, "The accord is the embodiment of what the Forum is all about -- a strategic synergy between key decision-makers in governments, companies, and civil society - which brings together leading stakeholders to do on a global scale what they cannot do alone."

After the launch of the 'Accord for a Healthier World', Pfizer called upon other global health leaders and organisations to join this groundbreaking new initiative, and bring their expertise and resources to help close the health equity gap and create a healthier world.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)