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Global AgeWatch Insights. The right to health for older people, the right to be counted

ALBONE, Rachel
et al
2018

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This report considers the progress being made to achieve older people's right to health amid the global drive towards universal health coverage. It explores how older people are currently accessing health services and what changes need to be made to improve on this. It considers the role of data in driving and informing changes to health systems and the services they deliver. Data must be collected with and about older people to ensure adequate evidence for service design and delivery that is targeted and appropriate. This report explores the adequacy of current data systems and collection mechanisms and how, alongside health systems, they must be adapted in an ageing world. 

 

This report is supported by 12 country profiles (for Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Kenya, Lebanon, Moldova, Myanmar, Pakistan, Serbia, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe; see Appendix 1). These provide national information on trends in the physical and mental health status of older people, and population-level information on access to UHC. The profiles are supplemented by data mapping, showing the national data available on older people’s health in the 12 profile countries, and revealing the data gaps. The data mapping results are available at www.GlobalAgeWatch.org.

Rehabilitation : a crucial component in the future of HIV care and support

NIXON, Stephanie
et al
June 2011

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"Provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not an end in itself but a means to achieving improved wellness for people living with HIV. Rehabilitation, broadly defined, is another key contributor to wellness within this context. Understanding the potential for rehabilitation requires that one is able to consider HIV not only within a biomedical model that focuses on body systems, diagnoses and symptoms, but also within a rehabilitation framework that focuses on how these diagnoses and symptoms affect people’s lives more broadly. Furthermore, rehabilitation is a human rights imperative, which deserves the energetic attention enjoyed by other aspects of HIV treatment and care. In particular, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is shining a long-overdue spotlight on the human rights imperatives associated with disability. For South Africa and other countries, proactively and meaningfully engaging rehabilitation in the HIV response will require major shifts on several fronts, including practice, education, policy and research. We argue that in settings where ART delivery is now widespread, HIV should be understood not only as a medical issue, but as a rehabilitation and disability concern. Whereas medicine adds years to life, it is rehabilitation that aims to add life to years"
Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, Vol 12, No 2

Intellectual property rights and access to ARV medicines : civil society resistance in the global south|Brazil, Colombia, China, India, Thailand

REIS, Renata
TERTO, Veriano Jr
PIMENTA, Maria Cristina Pimenta
Eds
2009

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This book looks at "...the recent history and the many struggles related to advocacy for access to [antiretroviral] medicines of engaged civil society. Through the experiences of five middle-income countries - Brazil, China, Colombia, India, and Thailand." It presents "...the perspective of local civil society organisations about the national impact of intellectual property protection and access to medications. "These five countries were chosen due to their accumulated experience in this field, their capacity to produce generic medication, their activist efforts, and the exchange of ideas and information that already exists between them"

Towards universal access : scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector : progress report 2008

WORLD HEALTH ORGNAIZATION (WHO)
JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
2008

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This report provides in-depth information on: treatment and care for people living with HIV; HIV testing and counselling; health sector interventions for HIV prevention; scaling up HIV services for women and children; strengthening health systems and health information; and towards universal access as the way forward

Social enterprise as market regulation : non-governmental interventions in essential medicines wholesaling to low income countries

MACKINTOSH, Maureen
2008

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"This paper explores the under-studied role of social enterprise as traders and regulatory actors in the international wholesale markets for essential medicines and their impact on accessibility, quality and prices in these perverse markets, drawing on an interview survey of European-based socially oriented wholesalers supplying the medicines market for sub-Saharan Africa. The paper argues that these enterprises play an important role in regulating price and quality and hence in improving access to medicines by the poor. However they face challenging market and political conditions. The paper analyses the motivations and organisational structures that sustain social and ethical commitment in this market, drawing on theories of social enterprise and non-profit business, and surveys the challenges and constraints. It then examines the formal international and national regulatory interventions in the international markets and their effects on social enterprise, in the context of a substantial institutional divide between the medicines-related campaigning of the large international NGOs and the activities of these market-oriented social enterprises"

Medicine prices in Ghana : a comparative study of public, private and mission sector medicine prices

GHANA HEALTH SERVICE, MINISTRY OF HEALTH
2006

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The results of this survey are intended to be used to advocate for policy development, future policy review or policy change that will result in making medicines more affordable and available to the majority of the population. It was conducted collaboration with the World Health Organization and Health Action International, using a standard list of medicines, a systematic sampling process, international reference prices, comparison of innovator brand and generically equivalent medicines and the identification of the components making up the final price. It is one of more than 40 studies conducted worldwide

Medicine prices surveys and proposed interventions to improve sustainable access to affordable medicines in 6 sub-Saharan African countries|Etudes des prix des medicaments et interventions proposeees pur ameliorer durablement l'acces aux medicaments dan

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2006

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This document brings together the outcomes of six surveys into medicine prices - for Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, Chad and Uganda - and one for the East African Community (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) . The reports for Mali and Chad are written in French and the others in English

Ensuring equitable access to antiretroviral treatment for women : WHO/UNAIDS policy statement

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2005

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This policy brief identifies actions needed to address the gender dimensions of equity in access to ART. It identifies four key areas: development of a supportive policy environment; strengthening health systems to make them more responsive to the specific needs of women and men; promotion of programmes that overcome obstacles to equitable access; development of benchmarks and indicators to measure progress. This brief addresses each area in turn

Improving access and use of psychotropic medicines : mental health policy and service guidance package

FUNK, Michelle
et al
2005

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This module defines the respective roles of the public, private (for-profit) and NGO (not-for-profit) sectors in the financing and provision of psychotropic medicines. It identifies organizational arrangements in these sectors to meet the objectives of access. The guidance sets an agenda for capacity building and organizational development and provides guidance for prioritizing expenditure and making decisions on resource allocation
Note: This module is part of a guidance package that consists of a series of interrelated user-friendly modules that are designed to address the wide variety of needs and priorities in mental health policy development and service planning. Its recommended for use by policy makers, service planners representatives or associations of families and carers of people with mental disorders

Impact of public-private partnerships addressing access to pharmaceuticals in low and middle income countries : A synthesis report from studies in Botswana, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Zambia

CAINES, Karen
LUSH, Louisiana
September 2004

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This report provides an overview, with general conclusions and recommendations, from a series of studies in Uganda (the pilot country) plus Botswana, Sri Lanka and Zambia, designed to assess the health and health systems impact of public-private partnerships for improving access to pharmaceuticals in relation to tropical diseases and/or HIV and AIDS, where pharmaceutical companies are involved as partners in supplying free or discounted drugs

Increasing access to essential medicines in the developing world : UK government policy and plans

DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID)
June 2004

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The lack of access to essential medicines in developing countries is one of the most pressing global health issues. Tackling this issue could save millions of lives every year. Yet major inequities remain, with a limited supply of affordable medicines and inadequate health systems to deliver them in many developing countries, and a continuing shortage of new products to meet developing country health needs. This paper sets out the UK Government's assessment of the key challenges that must be addressed if we are to increase access to medicines in the developing world. It aims to communicate clearly both this assessment, and its plans. Section 2 sets out the scale of the problem and the relationship between poverty and health; section 3 outlines the issues that developing countries and their partners need to address; section 4 looks at recent progress; and section 5 covers the UK government's key objectives and plans

HIV prevention in the era of expanded treatment access

GLOBAL PREVENTION WORKING GROUP
June 2004

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This report by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group emphasises the need for a simultaneous and integrated expansion of both antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention programmes. Unless effective prevention programmes reduce the incidence of HIV, treatment will not be available to all who need it. It includes recommendations on treatment, prevention both for HIV-positive and HIV-negative people and funding priorities

The Senegalese antiretroviral drug access initiative : an economic, social, behavioural and biomedical analysis

DESCLAUX, Alice
et al
April 2004

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This very thorough analysis of the Senegalese Antiretroviral Drug Access Initiative (ISAARV) presents preliminary results from the initiative's first three years. The analysis explores four aspects of the programme: treatment access, adherence, therapeutic efficacy, and the impact of this treatment programme on the Senegalese health care system

Principles, issues and options for strengthening health systems for treatment access and equitable responses to HIV and AIDS in southern Africa

SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGIONAL NETWORK ON EQUITY IN HEALTH (EQUINET)
March 2004

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This summary document presents: the principles for ensuring universal treatment access through sustainable public health systems; the major findings and issues from the work carried out in southern Africa on equity in health sector responses to HIV and AIDS, particularly in terms of access to antiretroviral treatment; and the key challenges for follow up work identified at the southern African regional meeting on Strengthening health systems for treatment access and equitable responses to HIV/AIDS in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 2004 [Publisher's abstract]

Breaking the cycle : ensuring equitable access to HIV treatment for women and girls

FLEISCHMAN, Janet
February 2004

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Outlines the situation of women and girls with regard to vulnerability to HIV and access to treatment. Makes recommendations for US policy reflecting the links between abuses against women and girls, and HIV/AIDS. Describes treatment programmes in Botswana and South Africa, and work around community mobilization and the involvement of civil society in ensuring access to ARV treatment

The world medicines situation

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2004

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The publication provides an accessible source of information on the pharmaceutical situation at global and national levels. It assembles the available evidence regarding the production and consumption of medicines, and a range of issues in national medicines policies, including the level of people's access, patterns of use, the challenges of medicines regulation and promoting rational use. Numerous different sources of data are used. A 32-page annex of statistics is included. The target readers are researchers, academics and analysts concerned with medicines and public health

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