Increasing efforts poor access to drugs

Many poor people in developing countries do not have access to the drugs they need. Often they can not afford them. But cheap is not everything when it comes to making the drug more accessible.



  sell all drugs for everyone with prices of production they will not work in the long run
To make affordable drugs in developing countries, pharmaceutical companies charge their customers in Europe and the United States far more than decent drugs. Instead, they sell the same substance at lower prices in poor countries
The same vaccine, for example, will be sold at 50 euros ($ 68) in the United States or in Europe and for three to four euros in Africa, "said Bompart." Whole system works because in the middle you have countries like Brazil, South Africa and Thailand are paid 10 to 20 euros. "


The new generation of HIV drugs are very expensive.

Tiered pricing failed, though, when it comes to many tropical diseases that affects only poor people in low-income countries, such as sleeping sickness. Here, a partnership between non-governmental organizations, governments and pharmaceutical companies is the only way to develop and produce drugs save lives.

In the case of malaria, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in collaboration with eleven African research centers to develop a vaccine against malaria for children. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported the study financially.

drug financing

Even cheaper drugs may be too expensive if the money was not there. Therefore, the key to make the drug more accessible is health financing system,


Success in India

In India, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to assist the government in setting up a system that allows poor families to receive free treatment at the hospital. For each patient, the government will pay up to 30,000 Indian rupees (around 340 euros) per year.

The government distributed electronic smartcard for the poorest families in the country so that the patient knows the hospital is part of the program, which began in 2008.
Hospitals in India
Very poor people can now get free treatment in many hospitals of India.

Education is more important than drugs?

Medications are an important part of health care, but not the most important in many situations,

Blood samples indicate if a person is infected with malaria - but health professionals must have the skills to diagnose disease

One of the diseases are often treated epilepsy. Chronic neurological disease affecting 50 million people worldwide, and 90 percent of them live in developing countries. The patients suffered from recurrent epileptic seizure due to abnormal brain activity. Pharmacy can suppress seizures but WHO estimates that in developing countries, three-quarters of people with epilepsy do not receive the care they need.

If people with epilepsy are not treated these days, it's not because the drug is expensive, it's because patients are not diagnosed properly,

In some cultures people believe that epilepsy patients destined, even trance. Many families feel embarrassed to bring their children to health professionals epilepsy and, on the contrary, they hide inside. In this case, combat stigma by educating the public about the medical causes of epilepsy is the first step in improving access to medicines.