MEDIA RELEASE, 4 September 2024
Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine, OraTaiao Aotearoa NZ Climate and Health Council, and Te Kāhui Manukura o Kai Ora (NZ Māori Dietitians Association) together call for Pharmac to stop buying New Zealand’s medicines from Israeli-based company Teva and choose other suppliers.
Their submissions to Pharmac highlight how Teva, an Israeli global pharmaceutical company, is involved and profiting from Israel’s system of apartheid in the Palestinian Occupied Territories (OPT; encompasses Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem).
The International Court of Justice recently declared Israel’s occupation of the OPTs illegal under international law and found that Israeli policies maintain a system of racial segregation and apartheid.
The rights of Palestinians to life, health, and healthcare, and a clean, healthy environment have been systematically attacked. The dismantling of the health system in Palestine has been an intentional and well-documented process. The genocide not only damages Palestine’s environment, but it is also greatly exacerbating climate change, thereby causing enduring health inequities at a global scale.
Global militaries account for at least 5.5% of global climate emissions and conflict adds a further tally. As healthcare workers, we are particularly disturbed by the reckless destruction of healthcare facilities within Gaza and the deaths and injuries of healthcare workers who are continuing to work in intolerable conditions.
Further enabling the apartheid social and economic system through unjust procurement is incompatible with climate justice. “Teva profits from Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on the OPTs”, says AHW4P Chairperson Serena Moran. “Teva has a captured market in the OPTs free from competition, generic alternatives, and taxes and levies imposed on local companies. Teva wields significant market power.”
Israel's apartheid system treats the OPTs as the same economic and pharmaceutical price zone as Israel - even though the OPT’s GDP and average income are significantly lower than Israel.
“This means Teva charges the same price for a medicine in Israel and the OPTs. The problem with that is the OPTs are under military occupation, economic siege, and an unfolding genocide. A large percentage of the Palestinian population in the OPTs struggle to afford medicines. Teva is profiting from the crime of apartheid” Serena says.
Last year, Teva contributed almost $1 billion in revenue to the Israeli government.
It’s time to take Teva off the list of approved suppliers - New Zealand does not need to take medicines that come at the cost of even more Palestinian lives.
ENDS