Amsterdam Session on lessons learned from COVID-19 - Meeting Report
On 16 June 2021, the Access to Medicine Foundation organised a virtual forum, or 'Amsterdam Session', to identify lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic which can be used to solve chronic issues in access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries.
The 'Amsterdam Sessions’ are a series of roundtables convened by the Foundation to address key topics and challenges in access to medicine, with each Session focused on a specific area where healthcare companies have a clear role to play. The Foundation convenes these sessions to identify practical and concrete actions for stakeholders to take.
Experts from 21 pharmaceutical companies joined this Session, including from large research-based pharmaceutical companies and generic medicine manufacturers. Other stakeholders, including representatives from the investment community, also attended.
Conversations took place under the Chatham House Rule in order to encourage a free and open exchange of ideas, with outcomes from the event captured in a meeting report. This six-page report is now available for download.
Inside the report
The meeting report covers the participants' insights and conclusions on the following topics:
- 7 key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Strong pre-existing partnerships are key to successfully navigating a crisis
- Supply chain continuity requires innovation and agility
- Multisectoral collaboration is key. Protectionist approaches can hinder manufacturing and supply
- Expanding production capacity to a global scale requires strategic thinking and advance planning
