[GA - PASSED] Universal STI Counteraction

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Universal STI Counteraction
Category: Health | Area of Effect: Healthcare
Proposed by: Thousand Branches | Onsite Topic


Acknowledging the continued spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI) across a large portion of WA member states; and

Discouraged by the lack of universal testing, treatment, and medication surrounding STIs;

The World Assembly hereby mandates that:

All member states must offer free (or fully insurance-covered), confidential, and universally accessible solutions to sexually transmitted infections, including but not limited to:
  1. Accurate STI testing for all STIs; these must be available to any WA resident who fulfills any of these criteria:
    1. Exhibits symptoms of any STI.
    2. Is consistently exposed to possible STI transmission as a part of their profession or employment.
    3. Has been possibly exposed to any STI since their last period of adequate testing.
  2. Effective antibiotic or antiviral treatment/medication for all STI; these must be available to any resident who has tested positive for an STI of any form until such treatment or medication is no longer necessary or the patient is no longer a WA resident.
Member residents, upon testing positive for an STI, must, to the best of their ability, provide a list of all persons they may have come in transmissible contact with since the date they last tested negative for that STI. The clinic or organization that tested that individual must:
  1. Privately contact, to the best of their ability and only when contact would not directly endanger the lives of any involved parties, each member of the positive individual’s list to inform those individuals of the possibility of contact and to recommend immediate testing.
  2. Delete the provided list immediately after completion.
  3. Never share any of the provided information with law enforcement of any kind.
  4. Not, under any circumstances, share records of an individual's transmissible contacts with any party other than the person receiving the positive test, their transmissible contacts, or the clinic performing the test, excepting circumstances where all of the aforementioned parties consent to the disclosure,
The World Health Authority (WHA) must, using funds allocated from the WA General Fund, ensure that adequately accessible STI testing, treatment, and medication are available across member states that cannot afford such solutions by:
  1. Expanding existing general clinics throughout member states to introduce, accommodate, and upkeep STI testing, treatment, and medication.
  2. Providing internationally available training programs to ensure that doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are properly trained in the most effective STI-related treatments and countermeasures.
  3. Donating supplies, grants, or labor in an effort to upkeep STI treatment faculties.
Member states must, through any previously provided reproductive education courses, provide instruction on avoiding and counteracting the spread of STI, including advocation for regular testing before sexual activity with new partners and the use of contraceptives as a preventative measure.

Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to Abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!


ForAgainstAbstainPresent
11403

"Universal STI Counterraction" has passed 12,476 votes (80.1%) to 3,099 (19.9%).
 
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IFV

Overview
This resolution would require member states to provide their residents with free or insurance-covered testing for sexually transmitted infections should they be at risk, as well as effective treatment or medication for those that test positive. Furthermore, it stipulates a set of measures that must be taken in the case of a positive STI test to inform others that may be affected without compromising the privacy of the individual who initially received the positive test result. It ensures that all member nations are able to fulfil its mandates by instructing the World Health Authority to provide funds or other forms of support for that purpose. Finally, the resolution mandates that any reproductive education programs run by member nations must include advice on mitigating the risks posed by STIs.

Recommendation
This is a welcome expansion of the healthcare provisions already in place in the World Assembly. The resolution's aims, as described above, deal with a well-known problem that affects all member nations, doing so in a way that ensures the health and privacy of individuals are both respected. It is also executed satisfactorily; there are no apparent loopholes in its language when compared to previous proposals on similar topics.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the General Assembly Resolution at vote, "Universal STI Counteraction".

This IFV Recommendation was written in collaboration with our World Assembly Legislative League partners.

Our Voting Recommendation Dispatch--Please Upvote!
 
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Against. I have consistently voted against all previous resolutions promoting "free at the point of service" health care. IRL I also oppose the NHS in the UK or any forms of "public option" health care such as whatever that AOC or Bernie Sanders promotes. That said I expect this to pass given WA voters are broadly to my left (using US political terms here).
 
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Against

I agree with the overall concept, but it fails due to the small details of certain clauses. First, the idea of free STI testing in all WA nations (Clause 1) will not fly well. The problem with free testing is that the world governments and insurance companies will not gain any money, and so in the long run the world economy would be doomed to crash. Second, in Clause 3, the usage of money from the WA General Fund to aid with STI facilities is mentioned. I strongly oppose any involvement of the WA General Fund in STI stuff. There would be many STI facilities across WA nations under this proposal, meaning that the WA General Fund will have to give a large sum of money each year. Thus, in the long run, the WA General Fund would run out of money, making the WA completely inoperable. Therefore, considering the oversight of economic calamity that could occur in the long run due to this resolution, I vote against.
 
"Including, but not limited to" is the problem for me here, largely because I fail to see what else could be done. Against.
 
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This proposal has received the requisite approvals to enter the formal queue. Barring it being withdrawn or marked illegal, it will proceed to a vote at Major Update on Monday, April 18.
 
I add that I am more against the "free treatment" part, I don't mind giving out free vaccines as it's relatively inexpensive.
 
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"Including, but not limited to" is the problem for me here, largely because I fail to see what else could be done. Against.
So, actually after some thinking. Going to go For on this.
 
Am I the only one concerned about the drawbacks of free STI testing and the usage of the WA General Fund? :(
If you look at previous resolutions, basically WA has already forced all kinds of taxpayer funded healthcare upon the members, regardless of whether it is payed for by WA General Fund. For example WA members must provide hormone therapy for transsexuals at cost under GA #571, and GA #582 slashes medical drugs pricing.
 
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The problem with free testing is that the world governments and insurance companies will not gain any money, and so in the long run the world economy would be doomed to crash.
How many STI tests would it take to crash the world economy?
 
How many STI tests would it take to crash the world economy?
Let’s say that in the NS multiverse, the most expensive STI test is $400 and that the Max Barry Multversal Average stock, which represents the overall economic health of the universe, is valued at $36K. In that case, if nations were to lose $400 per person who gets a free STI test, then it would theoretically take 90 free STI tests to bring down the world economy. Math :dance:
 
How many STI tests would it take to crash the world economy?
It's the treatment that costs the real money. Antivirals cost about USD40,000 a year (give or take), more than the per person GDP (PPP or nominal) of many countries. If drugmakers don't make a profit on drugs, no one will make drugs - it's just capitalism. (Note that my answers are always out of character for NS because I don't do role play, obviously if you are speaking from within the NS multi verse, that is a different story. Obviously I'd like to live in a world with unlimited energy and we are live healthily to 150 and there's world peace and all that, but we are not there yet.).
 
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It's the treatment that costs the real money. Antivirals cost about USD40,000 a year (give or take), more than the per person GDP (PPP or nominal) of many countries. If drugmakers don't make a profit on drugs, no one will make drugs - it's just capitalism. (Note that my answers are always out of character for NS because I don't do role play, obviously if you are speaking from within the NS multi verse, that is a different story. Obviously I'd like to live in a world with unlimited energy and we are live healthily to 150 and there's world peace and all that, but we are not there yet.).
I'm pretty sure that due to various other WAGA resolutions such as GA#582, that the cost is not overly prohibitive. Especially as drug makers in the US are making obscene profits anyway - which is why such medication is much cheaper elsewhere.
 
I'm pretty sure that due to various other WAGA resolutions such as GA#582, that the cost is not overly prohibitive. Especially as drug makers in the US are making obscene profits anyway - which is why such medication is much cheaper elsewhere.

I respectfully completely disagree with the latter part of your comment. Some US drug makers appear to be massively profitable because the cost of development is so expensive - safety procedures, studies, training etc. Countless drugs fail to reach Phase III, not to say becoming a blockbuster. The profits made by some drugmakers mask massive survivor bias - the failures are simply delisted from the Nasdaq or written off by some VC fund. US patients in effect heavily subsidize the rest of the world in drugs.
 
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US patients in effect heavily subsidize the rest of the world in drugs.
This is only the case because the US government does not use it's hefty ability to force prices down - the companies are not making losses at the prices they charge other countries, even factoring in costs like further research and development. The US could, in fact, negotiate as fiercely as other countries do, but it chooses not to.
 
I respectfully completely disagree with the latter part of your comment. Some US drug makers appear to be massively profitable because the cost of development is so expensive - safety procedures, studies, training etc. Countless drugs fail to reach Phase III, not to say becoming a blockbuster. The profits made by some drugmakers mask massive survivor bias - the failures are simply delisted from the Nasdaq or written off by some VC fund. US patients in effect heavily subsidize the rest of the world in drugs.
The original point still stands: unless the funding mechanism is somehow abusable, subsidizing STI testing does not represent a significant strain on developed nations' or the General Fund's resources.
 
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I add that I am more against the "free treatment" part, I don't mind giving out free vaccines as it's relatively inexpensive.
The original point still stands: unless the funding mechanism is somehow abusable, subsidizing STI testing does not represent a significant strain on developed nations' or the General Fund's resources.

As mentioned, my point is that Part III of the resolution requires "adequately accessible STI testing, treatment, and medication". I am in favour of accessible STI testing, but not the "treatment and resolution" part. (In real life) anti-viral treatment for HIV, for example, costs (up to) USD40,000 each year, and at 30 million (potentially) requiring treatment, that is an (up to) USD 1.2 trillion cheque.
 
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As mentioned, my point is that Part III of the resolution requires "adequately accessible STI testing, treatment, and medication". I am in favour of accessible STI testing, but not the "treatment and resolution" part. (In real life) anti-viral treatment for HIV, for example, costs (up to) USD40,000 each year, and at 30 million (potentially) requiring treatment, that is an (up to) USD 1.2 trillion cheque.
Well, if we're going to start bringing real-life numbers into this, I don't think using the price charged to US consumers is a good baseline when looking at the cost of healthcare related expenses, as, overall, US healthcare spending is about double what the world average when we're talking about a percentage of GDP spent on healthcare on a per capita basis.

This argument also fails to consider the fact that generic versions of HIV ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) have been supplied in Africa at an approximate cost of $75 USD per person annually. Heck, I've seen studies that place the total cost of HIV treatment (including personnel costs, clinic fees and other miscellaneous expenses) at $275 per person.

Personally, I see nothing overtly objectionable with the proposal, and as such, shall be voting For
 
"Universal STI Counterraction" has passed 12,476 votes (80.1%) to 3,099 (19.9%). This is author Thousand Branches' 3rd General Assembly Resolution authored.
 
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