Guest blog by Susan Huggett, President of Torre Lazur McCann Canada

Periodically, there have been calls for greater limits on direct to consumer  (DTC) advertising of new prescription drugs in the U.S.  One proposal that is often advanced calls for a moratorium on advertising during the first two years following a drug's approval by the Food and Drug Administration.  The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently evaluated the impact of the proposed advertising moratorium – in terms of cost to the health care system as well as its impact on public health.

The brief published by the CBO highlighted that an advertising moratorium delaying the widespread use of new drugs:

• Could worsen rather than enhance public health
• Would likely have a limited impact on prescription drug prices

On June 16, 2011 the United Nations will be hosting an informal interactive hearing on non-commmunicable diseases with non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector and academia.  The outcomes of the hearing will provide an input to the preparatory process for the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that will be held on 19-20 September 2011 in New York.

In advance of the June 16th hearing, comments can be submitted online (by June 10, 2011) via the World Health Organization site. 

Social media can greatly enhance the effectiveness of traditional marketing.  World Health Advocacy's James Ward was recently interviewed by Sanjeev Sinha of the Economic Times of India.  Following is a transcript from that interview:

Why is social media so important for marketing?

Social media provides a context for your relationship with your potential customers. As content has been king for the past decade, context will be king for the next. By making the effort to engage your audience directly, you create a relationship where your customers become more personally invested in your brand. Brands which bridge this context gap will be able to leverage their social capital to increase brand awareness and loyalty. The competitive advantage of having an engaged and active online audience can provide huge RoI on existing marketing budgets. Social media will not replace traditional marketing, but it can greatly enhance its effectiveness.

This year's World Health Assembly saw an unprecedented social engagement, with updates and discussions being shared via twitter, facebook and other media. The global discussion was significant enough to cause Dr. Chan to comment on it in her closing speech – "tweets about events over the past several days, on topics ranging from the reform agenda for WHO to pandemic influenza preparedness, reached more than three million people."

More than 2700 delegates, including Health Ministers and senior health officials from 192 WHO Member States, NGOs and civil society groups attended the World Health Assembly in person. Following a week's worth of discussions, the following are some of the key resolutions and highlights: