Venezuela asks for medication from Brazil

The Venezuelan government requested the donation of medication from Brazil due a shortage in the former country's supplies. The appeal was officially made today (Jun. 17) during a meeting between Brazil's Health Minister Ricardo Barros and Venezuela's Luisana Melo, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, as part of a series of MERCOSUR ministerial gatherings. So far, the Venezuelan government has not specified the types of medication it needs.

In an interview with the Brazilian press in Montevideo, the health minister said the Venezuelan Congress had already submitted its request to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, but added that it should have been issued by the neighboring country's Executive branch.

MERCOSUR

During the gathering with MERCOSUR ministers, Brazil put forward a proposal for all member countries to the protocol against the illegal tobacco trade. Drafted after the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization (WHO), of which Brazil is a signatory, the protocol lays out, among other things, how the production of supplies should be overseen and the visual exposure by sellers.

The cabinet from the MERCOSUR countries also agreed to make a t purchase of the medicines sofosbuvir, daclastavir and simeprevir—all of which used in the treatment of Hepatitis C—with a view to cutting the price of the products. In 2015, eight MERCOSUR countries made a similar purchase of darunavir, used to treat AIDS, with discounts of up to 83 percent.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira