E-DRUG: Can the poor buy life-saving drugs?
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[Newspaper article from an E-drugger. Copied as fair use. The discussion is open! WB]
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr112006/editpage1620212006410.asp
Deccan Herald
Can the poor buy life-saving drugs?
By Gopal Dabade
Though India is a major drug manufacturer many people lack access to drugs Medicines are the most significant tool that societies possess to prevent, alleviate and cure diseases. People who need them most are often deprived of it. Only the poor who fall sick frequently need health care regularly. But unfortunately a vast number of people have either inadequate or no access to medicines.
It is estimated that geographically Africa and India constitute a massive population without medicines. About 65 per cent of the Indian population and 47 per cent of the African population lack access to essential life saving medicines, where as in Europe that share is 14 per cent and in the US the figure is 22 per cent. India is recognised as a global drug manufacturer, which exportis to many countries even developing ones, but the stark number of people without essential drugs is the highest in the world! All this in spite of the fact that today the world possesses adequate resources to fund essential medicines and a functioning health system in developing countries. The basic knowledge and technical information already exists to increase access to all segments of population.
Population factor
What comprises access to medicines? It is defined as the proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis and is the percentage of population that has access to a minimum of 20 of the most essential drugs. It means that if a child has fever then simple medicines to reduce it should be available. The UNDP report explains how even such a simple access to life saving medicine is still a distant dream for several millions the world over. Clearly this excludes the higher antibiotics and five star hospitals.
Global pictures of people without access to medicines are scarier. Reportedly 38 per cent of the Indian population and 15 per cent of the African population lack access to essential medicines. So totally, India and Africa contribute to 53 per cent of the world's population without access to essential medicines. All this and much more in a United Nations report "Prescription for healthy development: increasing access to medicine" is available at the URL www.unmillenniumproject.org/ documents/AccessMedEbook.pdf. Prescription for Healthy Development: Increasing Access to Medicines is a publication of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of UN Millennium Project 2005 - a report of the Task Force on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and Access to Essential Medicines, Working Group on Access to Essential Medicines.
Inadequate access
It is estimated that 1.7 million to 2 billion people internationally have no access to or have inadequate access to life- saving essential drugs. Most of them live in developing countries. More than 10 million children die annually, unnecessarily almost all in developing, middle-income or poor areas of middle-income countries, mostly from a short list of preventable diseases like acute respiratory diseases, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and causes related to malnutrition.
The UNDP report has some important recommendations. Many of them are relevant to India. It highlights that a country needs the political will. There must be a progressive increase in the budgetary allocation for essential drugs, especially to ensure improved access to the poor, which is likely to require a shift in the allocation of government resources. Budgetary allocation should be made on accurate data. This merits serious attention, as most data/figures are manipulated to get funds from donor agencies. Also the report acknowledges that drug prices play a major role. This is an area that needs urgent attention. If the price is set at a level that consumer cannot afford, the medicine will not be bought. In developing countries, governments have a range of tools available to help manage and lower medicine prices.
One wonders if the people in power are listening. It is ultimately for the consumer groups to bring pressure on the government and make medicines available to the poorest. Till then the poor will continue to suffer and die.
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