PHA-Exchange> Fwd: medicines and poor

[Gopal Dabade]

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Detailed Story
* 11th April 2006
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr112006/editpage1620212006410.asp








*IN PERSPECTIVE*

*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/<http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/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 in ternationally 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, diarrhea, 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 allocaiton 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.



Copyright: 2004 The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd., 75, M.G. Road, Post Box
No 5331, Bangalore - 560001


--
Dr Gopal Dabade,
57, Tejaswinagar,
Dharwad 580 002
Tel 0836-2461722
Cell (0)9448862270
www.jagruti.org
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