Causes Of People Having Unequal Access To Medicine

This is my prediction on the reasons why people have unequal access to medicine.  

• Poverty -- some people are too poor to buy food; how will they buy medicines;
• Not enough government support -- some governments like Japan, Canada, UK etc. help citizens get access to cheaper medicines, but many other governments (such as the U.S.) won’t do as much they can and some other governments (like India) don’t have enough money to help citizens;
• Many life-saving and critical or chronic illness medicines are super expensive, which means they are not available in poor countries (because companies don’t want to take the trouble of selling at a low price in poor countries)

We think this should be affecting who is given medicine

• When needed should be affordable and available
• We have to find a way of paying companies enough without putting the burden on poor people

How Poverty Affects Health-care

People living in poverty lack nutritious food which decreases their bodies chance to fight off diseases. Those people who are living in poverty cannot afford the appropriate medicine to treat their illness.  

THE BORGEN PROJECT. (2014) 5 Effects ofn Poverty [Online] Available from: https://borgenproject.org/5-effects-poverty/

[Accessed: 21st February 2017]

Access to essential drugs in poor countries: a lost battle?

Drugs offer is a simple and cost-effective solution to many health problems in the world, provided they are available, affordable and properly used. African Trypanosomiasis, Shigella dysentery, Leishmaniasis, tuberculosis and bacterial meningitis are just some of the examples of health problems in poor countries for which effective treatment is wanted.

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. (2016) Access to essential drugs in poor countries: a lost battle? [Online] Available from:

https://www.msfaccess.org/content/access-essential-drugs-poor-countries-lost-battle

[Accessed: 21 February 2017]

Lack of access is particularly concentrated in Africa and India.

Access to essential medicines appears closely correlated with other indicators of health system performance, such as disability-adjusted life expectancy.

The majority of low- and middle-income countries use essential medicines lists in selecting their medicines and are more likely to use these to limit procurement choices than are high-income countries.

Generic competition and differential pricing can contribute substantially to the affordability of medicines in low-income countries.

Bulk purchasing, careful price comparison, compulsory licensing and differential pricing schemes may help countries obtain better purchasing prices for medicines.

Greater scope for domestic price regulation exists in many low-income countries.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. (2016) Chapter 7. Access to essential medicines [Online] Available from: http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js6160e/9.html [Accessed: 21 February 2017]

Why people lack access to essential medicines

According to Medecins Sans Frontieres Doctors Without Borders, Millions of people die each year from diseases for which medicines are too expensive. They cannot prove this but we can.

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. (2015) Frequently Asked Questions The Access To Essential Medicines EXPO [Online] Available from:

http://www.umich.edu/~aamgj/DWB-FAQonEXPO.pdf

[Accessed: 21 February 2017]

Sovaldi works incredibly well to cure Hepatitis C.

The trouble? It costs $1,000 per day for all 12 weeks of treatment.

Laura Bush’s clinic (Laura Bush is a nurse-practitioner near Albuquerque) is a federally qualified health center in the rural town of Los Lunas, New Mexico, which means she sees a disproportionate number of patients who are underinsured, and on Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor. In other words, they can’t afford Sovaldi. That means that they have no access to Sovaldi.

THE ATLANTIC. (2015) The True Cost of an Expensive Medication [Online] Available from: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/an-expensive-medications-human-cost/407299/ [Accessed: 21 February 2017]