What is access to essential medicines all about?
Today one-third of the world’s population lacks access to essential medicines. In the poorest parts of Africa and Asia this figure rises to one-half.
Access to medicines is about being able to provide urgent medical and life-saving treatments to people who are suffering from common global infectious diseases and conditions.
The lack of access to essential medicines means that humanitarian organisations cannot treat patients suffering common diseases. This is because the medicines are too expensive or no longer produced and, in some cases, the only drugs available are highly-toxic or ineffective. In addition, lack of health and communications infrastructure, as well as violence and instability, further hinder access to medial treatment and essential medicines.
What does access this mean?
Lack of access to essential medicines means that millions of people, a high percentage of whom are children, are dying from curable diseases that no longer exist in the developed world. Lack of access also inhibits the ability of humanitarian organisations to treat patients suffering curable conditions and diseases.
MSF, the leading organisation providing medical aid, offers some practical examples of what lack of access to essential medicines means.
- New, more effective malaria drugs are not being used because of cost and bureaucratic obstacles
- Many needed HIV/Aids drugs are too expensive because of drug company patents
- There is almost no research being conducted into diseases like TB or sleeping sickness which kill many
Why is access to essential medicines a problem in poor countries?
There are a number of factors which contribute to limiting access to essential medicines.
- One main obstacle to access is that many drugs are too expensive for those in the developing world to buy. One reason for this is the patenting of medicines. Patenting of medicines is a barrier to access as it gives pharmaceutical companies a market monopoly and allows them to charge the same high price world-wide.
- Some life-saving treatments are not available in developing countries because manufacturers have abandoned their production because they were not considered profitable enough.
- There is little research being carried out into illnesses which are widespread in developing countries. Different diseases are neglected for different reasons, including lack of interest from the private sector, as well as insufficient investment from the public sector. MSF reports that research into new and adapted treatments for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and sleeping sickness, has ceased. This is because drugs for tropical diseases are not profitable for drug companies, who are instead focusing on lifestyles diseases for people in wealthy countries.
- There is limited capacity in developing countries to develop new drugs independently.
- Lack of infrastructure in developing countries, including roads and health facilities, is a major obstacle. Lack of roads means travelling to health facilities is a long and dangerous journey. It may take several days to reach the nearest facility, by which time it is often too late to treat a patient, from an otherwise curable condition and disease. Distance and lack of infrastructure means a large portion of the population remains out of reach. A further problem encountered by many families is the burden of responsibility for those left behind when, for example, a mother takes her sick child to receive medical attention. She has to arrange for someone to look after the rest of her children. If the father is the one to do this, it means he cannot go to work which limited his ability to provide food for his family.
- Volatile security situations can also make travel to medical facilities risky. In affected countries, civil war and political unrest, means that various zones throughout the country are controlled by opposing rebels and militias. Therefore, travelling through different villages, which is necessary to reach medical facilities, is dangerous.
How do I know this?
Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV),
Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT),
http://www.mmv.org/article.php3?id_article=27
MSF Access Campaignl,
http://www.accessmed-msf.org/index.asp
MSF,
http://www.msf.org.au/
MSF-US,
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/malaria/...
MSF-US 2005,
The Second Wave of the Access Crisis: Unaffordable AIDS Drug Prices... Again, 10 December,
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/hiv-aids...
MSF-US 2006,
Malaria Still Kills Needlessly In Africa; Effective Drugs Not Reaching Patients, 21 April,
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2006/04-21...
Warpinski, A., 2002, 'The Good Medicine: Why are millions of malaria victims in Africa going without a treatment that works?',
MSF International Activity Report 2002
