E-DRUG: Medicine pricing policies in EMR countries
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Dear E-Drug Subscribers,
A number of national surveys of medicine prices, availability, affordability and price structure have recently been undertaken in some
EMR countries (East Mediterranean Region). These surveys have used a standard WHO/HAI Medicine Prices survey methodology (www.haiweb.org/medicineprices). This approach involves a systematic survey to collect accurate data and reliable information on the prices people actually pay for a selection of important, commonly used medicines across public and private sectors. In addition, the survey collects information on price composition such as taxes, mark-ups and fees, and assesses the affordability and availability of these medicines. A regional synthesis report of these survey results is currently being prepared.
However, the relationship between national policies on medicine prices
and the actual availability and prices of these medicines is often not
clear.
As a next logical step in this area of work, we have now decided to
collect details of the medicine pricing policies in countries in the
East Mediterranean Region countries (see list below). This activity will
be undertaken by an intern from the London School of Economics, Ms Samia
Saad, working with me and my colleague, Mohamed Bin Shahna, in Cairo and
at WHO Headquarters with Richard Laing in Geneva over the next few
months. We have planned this project in two phases:
Phase I: the collection of policy documents and any details related to
regulation of medicines prices in as many EMR countries as possible.
Phase II: telephone interviews with key informants in each of the EMR
countries that have undertaken the price surveys, to assess actual
implementation of their medicine pricing policies.
Expected Project Outpouts
1. A collection of policy documents from EMR countries with brief
annotations and a brief comparative analysis.
2. A summary of status of implementation of pricing policies in EMR
countries based on the interviews undertaken and documents reviewed.
This would include the analysis of the government policies on taxes,
duties, and wholesale and retail sale mark-ups on essential medicines.
3. A summary of the available data to assess the impact of policies
and implementation on actual availability and prices paid for medicines
in EMR countries.
4. A discussion paper which will be used for the EMRO Regional
Meeting on Medicine Prices, on the impact of policies and implementation
practices on the prices and availability of medicines in EMR countries.
This project will help us to design next steps in terms of formulating
guidelines for appropriate medicine pricing polices and their effective
implementation.
Medicine pricing policies exist in various tangible and non-tangible
forms and hence it is not always easy to get hold of them and to
delineate them. If you are from one of the EMR country or you have some
knowledge about the medicine pricing policies in any of the EMR
countries or if you have done some work in this area in any of these
countries then your response would be very valuable for us.
For further details about this project, please contact Samia Saad
<s.saad@lse.ac.uk>, Mailing address: Samia Saad, c/o Policy, Access and Rational Use, Medicine Policy and Standards, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia 20, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland and Essential Drugs & Biologicals Unit / EMRO / WHO edb@emro.who.int.
Countries in the EMR: Afghanistan; Bahrain; Djibouti; Egypt; Iran
(Islamic Republic of); Iraq; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya; Morocco; Oman; Pakistan; Palestine; Qatar; Saudi Arabia;
Somalia; Sudan; Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates;
Yemen
Best regards to many friends on the list.
Zafar Mirza