AMFM

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria is a financing mechanism intended to expand access to affordable and effective antimalarial medication.

ACT

For plasmodium falciparum use of two or more drugs with different modes of action in combination is now recommended to provide adequate cure rate and delay the development of resistance. Currently artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is recommended for the treatment of P. falciparum malaria.

AHC

The APEC Harmonization Center is established under the authority of the APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF). Korea presented a proposal for a harmonization center, referred to as the AHC, at the sixth LSIF in August, 2008. The proposal included substantial self-funding from the Government of Korea and was widely supported at LSIF.

ADB

The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.

ABS

Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) refers to a set of rules and principles established by the Convention on Biological Diversity governing access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation. ABS is rooted in the understanding that countries providing genetic resources should be associated to the benefit arising from their utilization.

A2M

WHO considers equitable access to safe and affordable medicines as vital to the attainment of the highest possible standard of health by all. WHO Member States reaffirmed their commitment to these principles in May 2008, with the adoption of a resolution on the "Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property" (WHA61.21).

AU

The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of all 55 countries on the African continent, including the 6% of Egypt that is geographically in Asia. It was established on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched on 9 July 2002 in South Africa, with the aim of replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising ten Southeast Asian states which promotes Pan-Asianism, intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, military, educational and cultural integration amongst its members and Asian states. Since its formation on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, the organisation's membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.