Access To Medicines
What DFID is doing
The UK Government has played a leading role in this international action. In July 2001, the Prime Minister established a high-level Working Group on Increasing Access to Essential Medicines in the Developing World. The group reported in November 2002, with recommendations focusing on affordable pricing and research and development into new medicines.
In June 2004, the Government released Increasing access to essential medicines in the developing world: UK Government policy and plans
(209kb). This set out four strategies for UK action:
- Support for access to medicines through the development assistance programme
- Engagement in trade policy to support access to medicines within the context of international agreements
- Engagement with the pharmaceutical industry to strengthen its contribution to increasing access to medicines
- Support for increased investment in research and development (R&D) for health technologies that meet the needs of developing countries.
Actions taken since 2004 include:
- Supporting the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (up to £1 billion in the period 2008-2015),
UNITAID, the international drug purchase facility, (up to £790 million over 20 years) and the
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (committing £1.38 billion to the
International Finance Facility for Immunisation
over twenty years). In 2008, £50 million was committed over five years to fight
neglected tropical diseases, and £40 million to the
Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria - Piloting the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) as a multi-stakeholder initiative to increase transparency and accountability in pharmaceutical systems on the price, quality and availability of medicines
- Launching an innovative partnership with the Clinton Foundation to reduce the price of selected drugs for HIV/AIDS and malaria through providing technical assistance to suppliers and purchasing governments.
- Publication of
Increasing people's access to essential medicines in developing countries: a framework for good practice in the pharmaceutical industry(237kb), the subject of a review of progress in 2008
- Addressing the contentious area of intellectual property rights and access to medicines, including support for the WHO
Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Public Health
- Committing to double DFID's overall research budget(1453)
kb) to £220 million by 2010, including increased and more diverse funding to public-private partnerships for developing products needed to prevent and treat diseases mainly affecting developing countries
- Pledging $485 million to the Advance Market Commitment for pneumococcal vaccines to accelerate the introduction of new vaccines adapted to the needs of developing countries
Current activities centre on four themes:
- Strengthening Health Systems
- Promoting Global Health Innovation
- Creating an Enabling International Environment
- Improving the Evidence Base.
UK Government policy documents on access to medicines:
- The UK Government Response to the Report of the Commission on Intellectual Rights, Innovation and Public Health (September 2007)
- Increasing people's access to essential medicines in developing countries (March 2005)
- Increasing access to essential medicines in the developing world: UK Government policy and plans (June 2004)
- Context paper for the UK Working Group report (January 2003)
- UK Working Group on Increasing Access to Essential Medicines in the Developing World (November 2002)
DFID-sponsored studies on access to medicines
- Review of the UK Government's 2005 Framework for Good Practice in the Pharmaceutical Industry (2008)
- A country level report on the pharmaceutical sector in India (2008)
- India’s Pharmaceutical Sector in 2008: Emerging Strategies and Global and Local Implications for Access to Medicines (2008)
- Impact of Public-Private partnerships addressing access to pharmaceuticals in low & middle income countries Botswana
- Access to medicines in under-served markets: what are the implications of changes in intellectual property rights, trade and drug registration policy? Overview paper
