E-DRUG: AMDS News: Access to ARV drugs & diagnostics and GPRM new data export portal
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Dear Reader,
Welcome to AMDS mail
This 2014 Quarter 3 issue covers Access to ARV drugs, Access to diagnostics and GPRM new data export portal.
Access to antiretroviral drugs in low- and middle-income countries
WHO published in July 2014 a report on global access to ARV drugs in low- and middle-income countries. This report shows how prices of ARVs have been decreasing overtime in most LMICs but middle income countries with patents constraints still pay very high prices. Competition and efficient procurement strategies such as pooled procurement and prequalified generic ARVs are factors explaining the decreasing prices. Other important areas discussed include impact of WHO recommendation on ARV use, quality assurance and regulations, the role of intellectual property on access to ART, coping with increasing demand as guidelines and eligibility criteria change, and strengthening supply systems. We thank AMDS partners who contributed significantly to this important report. It will be launched in Melbourne on 20 July 2014. The publication can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/amds/access-arv-2014/en/
Increasing access to HIV treatment in middle-income countries (MICs)
WHO published in May 2014 a report on access to ARVs in MICs. The paper provides information on key data on prices, regulatory status, tariffs and the intellectual property situation in 20 middle-income countries for adult and paediatric formulations of ARVs recommended by WHO. It links this information with an analysis of the intellectual property situation, existing license agreements as well as compulsory licenses, and other determinants of prices and availability of ARVs, including tariffs, markups and taxes, as well as the regulatory status. The report can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/phi/publications/hiv_increase_access/en/.
Access to diagnostics
UNAIDS, WHO, ASLM, PEPFAR, CDC, CHAI and Global Fund and other partners organized a meeting in June 2014 to discuss the 90/90/90 target which consists the new target for ARV treatment scale up.
* 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status;
* 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and
* 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy have achieved durable viral suppression.
As a follow up, a new initiative on access to diagnostics in under discussion.
WHO has published an interim technical report on operational considerations for implementing HIV viral load testing<http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/pub/arv/viral-load-testing-technical-update/en/index.html> which will assist national programme managers to better plan for scaling up access to viral load testing to monitor treatment failure among people on ARV treatment. The report can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/arv/viral-load-testing-technical-update/en/.
Quality of diagnostics and POC testing
WHO, PEPFAR, CDC , ASLM and other partners are working closely to address the issue of quality of testing in the national programmes. The guidelines which were published in 2005 are obsolete and need to be revised in view of the development of new technologies which are on the market and in the field. A revised guidance for improving the quality of POC testing in order to increase the reliability and the accuracy of test results has now been developed to support national laboratory managers and policy makers, used with satisfaction by laboratory programme managers in a workshop organized by ASLM in Tanzania and will be published in September 2014.
Global Price Reporting Mechanism (GPRM) and the GPRM Data Export Interface
In the WHO Global Price reporting Mechanism, the data export interface has been improved to facilitate multiple year downloads at http://apps.who.int/hiv/amds/price/hdd/Export.aspx
If you have any comment on our materials and information for inclusion in the next AMDSmail, please contact AMDS@who.int<mailto:AMDS@who.int> (attention: Vincent Habiyambere).
Mr Boniface Dongmo Nguimfack
Clearing House Manager
HTM/HIV/TCO/AMDS
World Health Organization
20, avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Visit WHO at: www.who.int
<dongmonguimfackb@who.int>