Strengthening efforts to improve access to and affordability of medicines and technologies in the prevention and control of NCDs Overview and summary of feedback 18-19 February 2015
Summary (from policy brief) Initiatives involving the private sector aimed at improving access to safe, efficacious and affordable medicines for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are currently insufficient to make substantial progress in NCD prevention and control. Private Sector efforts should be encouraged and sustained within the framework of Universal Health Coverage and aligned with local health systems orientation, particularly in low-resource settings. 2
Summary continued Such activities may involve Public-Private Partnerships in the following areas: Increased and sustainable international and domestic financing for essential medicines for NCDs Provision of equitable patient-centred primary health care for the management of NCDs, including palliative care Local manufacture, supply, distribution and storage of essential medicines for NCDs. 3
Submissions Eight submissions addressed this topic All supported the importance of this issue and the need to do more Experience with vaccines and communicable diseases has shown the value of PPPs There are already a number of initiatives in place that address NCD prevention, detection and management 4
Experience to date from submissions Integration (rather than competition) with communicable disease programmes Positive PPP examples should be emphasized, e.g. GAVI, which included substantial reductions in the price of HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer 5
Specific initiatives to improve access Merck KGaA s Capacity Advancement Program (CAP), a public-private partnership to expand diabetes-related health care professional capacity in Africa Novo Nordisk and several state governments in India have collaborated to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for diabetes patients AstraZeneca launched Healthy Heart Africa to reach 10 million hypertensive patients across Africa, which includes improving access to antihypertensives by reducing the price of some of their products by up to 90% Lilly NCD Partnership, committing $30 million over five years to use publicprivate partnerships to address NCDs in Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa Sanofi partners with the Juvenile Diabetes Association (ADJ) and the National Association of Diabetes Care (ANAD) to address diabetes in Brazil 6
Key issues from submissions Collaboration with the private sector will be necessary to achieve the target of 80% availability by 2025 Strategies should not act simply as a sticking plaster but provide sustainable solutions to the underlying weaknesses in the health system that currently act as a barrier to access Some countries don t have the capacity and capability to undertake all the necessary medicines regulatory roles Initiatives are underway to build this capacity and capability such as regional cooperation schemes but these will need strengthening to address NCDs Need to include medicines for palliative care for NCDs within the scope of essential medicines for NCDs & devise strategies to increase availability of opioid analgesics Needs of mothers and babies will be different from adult population 7