Cette déclaration revêt une grande importance car bien que ces dispositions figurent déjà dans l'accord sur les ADPIC, ce n'était pas clair et plusieurs litiges étaient survenus, tout particulièrement en Afrique du Sud où il n'était pas clair si le VIH-sida se qualifiait ou non.
The declaration was very important because although those provisions were in the TRIPS agreement before, they were not clear, and a number of cases had taken place, most notably in South Africa, where there was some question as to whether HIV-AIDS would qualify or not.