This research represents a first exploration exercise on the phenomenon of drug falsification in Colombia from an anti-corruption and transparency perspective. The study found that promote the commercialisation of illegitimate pharmaceutical products. Yet they operate reactively due to the absence of a regulatory framework that considers this phenomenon explicitly. This work identifies general areas in which the public and private sectors must strengthen their collaborative work to offer greater protection of the health and lives of citizens against the infiltration of falsified medicines, both in the legal and illegal – physical and virtual – markets.

HIV criminalization is a counterproductive strategy that does not respond to scientific evidence and undermines public health. Since 1987, multiple countries included offenses in their criminal codes related to the transmission of HIV or the non-disclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partners. The Colombian criminal code established that any person that was aware of having HIV or hepatitis B infection and displayed any actions that could spread the diseases would be sentenced to six to twelve years of prison. Nineteen years later, the Colombian Constitutional Court decided a case which challenged the criminal offence that penalized HIV and Hepatitis B Transmission. With the support of multiple evidence-based and human rights arguments from the civil organizations and the academia, the Court ruled in favor of eliminating the HIV and Hepatitis B transmission offense from the criminal code, recognizing that people diagnosed with HIV have been subject to stigmatization and discrimination. The high court also condemned the criminalization of HIV as it discouraged people from accessing to diagnostic tests, especially in high-risk groups already disproportionately profiled by the justice system. The Colombian case provides an example of how litigation could be explored to eliminate HIV criminalization in other countries.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has hit the country strongly. As of May 13, Colombia ranks 12th worldwide in absolute positive cases and 10th in mortality. In February 2021, the Colombian government initiated a vaccination programme that brought hope to the people. However, the deployment of such a programme has faced many difficulties, which raises concerns about whether it will be possible to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021.

This article presents an overview of the vaccination programme in Colombia and some recommendations for international actors to speed up the process and guarantee equitable access to vaccines. The article is divided into two parts. The first one presents an overview of the situation in Colombia and analyses the vaccine programme implementation. This section will also explore the current acceptance of the vaccine and the economic benefits that a successful vaccination programme could bring to the country. The second part will develop some of the expectations with regard to international actors, so as to promote international cooperation regarding access to vaccines. This section will analyse two scenarios: the waiver on intellectual property rights currently discussed in the World Trade Organization, and the COVAX initiative. We will argue that both forms of cooperation are complementary and that international actors, notably high-income countries, should support both strategies.

En medio de una rápida urbanización, de la desigualdad, las altas prevalencias de las ENT, los altos niveles de contaminación y el pobre acceso a áreas verdes y espacios públicos, las ciudades de Latinoamérica se han caracterizado por una gran innovación. La innovación en medio de la complejidad y el caos de nuestras ciudades se ha manifestado, en parte, en políticas de transporte y del espacio público, con impactos en la sostenibilidad y la salud de las comunidades, políticas que a su vez han atraído la atención internacional en la región.

Como parte de la innovación y las buenas prácticas de salud urbana y en comunidades de ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe, se resaltan, primero, programas y políticas innovadores del espacio público, que incluyen: 1) las ciclovías recreativas, donde se cierran las calles al flujo de vehículos motorizados y se abren a los ciudadanos, y 2) programas inclusivos para la promoción de hábitos saludables en parques y espacios públicos. En segundo lugar, se resaltan políticas de transporte innovadoras, que incluyen 1) programas para la promoción del uso de la bicicleta como medio de transporte sostenible; 2) el autobús de tránsito rápido (BRT), y 3) los cables integrados con transporte masivo que proveen acceso a las poblaciones más vulnerables. Estos programas y políticas, a su vez, están alineados con los compromisos de la Nueva Agenda Urbana y en conexión con la Agenda de la Naciones Unidas con miras al Desarrollo Sostenible 2030, en particular, con el ODS 11 y la interacción de este con el ODS 3.

This paper explores Colombia's road toward universal health care coverage. Using a policy-based approach, we show how, in Colombia, the legal expansion of health coverage is not sufficient and requires the development of appropriate and effective institutions. We distinguish between formal and material health coverage in order to underscore that, despite the rapid legal expansion of health care coverage, a considerable number of Colombians-especially those living in poor regions of the country-still lack material access to health care services. As a result of this gap between formal and material coverage, an individual living in a rich region has a much better chance of accessing basic health care than an inhabitant of a poor region. This gap between formal and material health coverage has also resulted in hundreds of thousands of citizens filing lawsuits-tutelas-demanding access to medications and treatments that are covered by the health system, but that health insurance companies-also known as EPS- refuse to provide. We explore why part of the population that is formally insured is still unable to gain material access to health care and has to litigate in order to access mandatory health services. We conclude by discussing the current policy efforts to reform the health sector in order to achieve material, universal health care coverage.