E-DRUG: WHO consultation access to essential medicines and health technologies for NCDs
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The WHO has published a discussion paper on improving access to essential
medicines and basic health technologies for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
See the link below for more information.
http://who.int/nmh/events/ncd-coordination-mechanism-essential-medicines/en/
The goal is to assist Member States in their national efforts to achieve
target 9 as outlined in the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and
Control of NCDs 2013-2020. "An 80% availability of the affordable basic
technologies and essential medicines, including generics, required to treat
major noncommunicable diseases in both public and private facilities."
A key aspect of NCD prevention and control requires that patients have
equitable access to affordable medicines and technologies. Unfortunately,
bottlenecks present within and outside health systems have continued to
undermine this necessity and contribute to the rising burden of NCDs.
Spending on medicines and other health technologies are now noted to put
severe strains on health budgets, accounting for more than half of total
current health expenditures in some countries.
In order to strengthen efforts to realize the achievement of this target,
the Secretariat has developed this discussion paper to engage stakeholders
through a consultative process, to help define ways and means to assist
Member States in their national efforts to improve equitable access through
a set of actions.
The paper describes some of the key bottlenecks Member States face, it
presents ideas on how WHO and relevant stakeholders can support Member
States to support national efforts and it provides questions to stimulate
and elicit feedback in order to give input to WHO work, on how to support
Member States to improve access to essential medicines and basic health
technologies for NCDs.
You are invited to provide comments by sending an email to
ncdactionplan@who.int
by 31 August 2015.
A summary of the feedback obtained through the consultation will be posted
on the WHO website at the end of the process.
Thanks.
Best regards,
Dr. Onyema Ajuebor
Consultant
Management of NCDs, Disabilities, Violence and Injury Prevention (NVI)
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland
ajueboro@who.int