Introduction to Access to Essential Medicines

Commitment to providing access to essential medicines has never been greater.  In 2002, 189 countries unanimously agreed to strive to “make essential drugs more widely available and affordable by all who need them in developing countries”.1

The ‘access to medicines’ campaign has brought together many actors and agencies, committed to a single goal of improving the provision of medicines across the globe.

Yet, despite this commitment, it still stands that 10 million lives are lost each year,  from diseases that are preventable through the use of existing medicines and vaccines.  The World Health Organisation estimates that a third of the world’s population still lacks regular access to full and effective treatments, the majority of these in Asia and Africa.2

There are a number of factors that determine this ‘access gap’:

• Firstly, health care systems are often not sufficient in that they lack the staff and budget to provide adequate care to the population, as well as the fact that rural populations are often located too far from a hospital to allow easy access. 
• An inadequate amount of research on drugs for diseases in developing countries – the so-called “neglected diseases” – is another formidable barrier.
• Thirdly, the prohibitive costs of medicines in many countries prevents many people from accessing the health care they need. 
• Finally, there is often a lack of political will for public financing of health care.

This wiki will explore these issues in more depth.

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