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The Lancet : essential medicines out of reach of most people

HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL (HAI)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
December 2008

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The lead article of this edition of the WHO and HAI medicines pricing survey quarterly bulletin picks up on an article published in the Lancet which highlights the financial burden faced by many people living in low and middle income countries when having to pay for essential medicines

UN MDG gap task force report

HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL (HAI)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
September 2008

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Making essential medicines more affordable and more widely available are essential in helping to meet the millennium development goals. The lead article of this edition of HAI and WHO's medicines pricing survey bulletin, looks at UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's response to a mid-term progress report from the MDG Gap Task Force

Seizing the opportunity on AIDS and health systems

OOMMAN, Nandini
BERNSTEIN, Michael
ROSENZWEIG, Steven
August 2008

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This is a comparison of donor interactions with national health systems in Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia - specifically: the health information systems, the supply chain systems for essential medicines, and human resources for health. It focuses on the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the World Bank’s Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program

Mapping factors that drive drug resistance (with a focus on resource-limited settings) : a first step towards better informed policy

BEITH, Alexandra
July 2008

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This paper characterises the drug resistance problem in developing countries. It presents an overview of the magnitude of resistance to drugs among organisms responsible for high burden diseases and then analyses key drivers of drug resistance by classifying them into three major categories to draw out commonalities in drivers across diseases. The paper also highlights gaps in knowledge about resistance, and priority areas for further research and potential policy dialogue

Benchmarking antiretroviral prices in countries of the former Soviet Union

WANING, Brenda
et al
June 2008

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This study benchmarks ARV prices of former Soviet Union (FSU) countries against each other and against global and European region ARV prices. The study reveals that extreme price variation exists within and across FSU countries for identical ARVs, which suggests that some countries may be able to obtain ARVs at lower prices and therefore purchase additional ARVs to treat more people

Antimalarial drug quality in the most severely malarious parts of Africa - a six country study

BATE, Roger
COTICELLI, Philip
TREN, Richard
ATTARAN, Amir
May 2008

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This article describes research conducted on a range of antimalarial drugs, procured from private pharmacies in urban and peri-urban areas in the major cities of six African countries which were subjected to semi-quantitative thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and dissolution testing to measure active pharmaceutical ingredient content against internationally acceptable standards

Counterfeit drugs kill

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL PRODUCTS ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TASKFORCE (IMPACT)
May 2008

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This leaflet describes how counterfeit medicines may endanger people's health because their quality is unpredictable. It also considers the challenges faced in combating counterfeit medicines and the role of the IMPACT coalition

Public and private sector approaches to improving pharmaceutical quality in Bangladesh

KOSTERMANS, Kees
et al
March 2008

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"Low-cost high-quality drugs benefit society and helps provide pharmaceutical companies a competitive edge. This study presents the issues that must be considered to achieve these common objectives in Bangladesh and explores options that the Government and the local industry could pursue. "Previous efforts to improve the drug quality in Bangladesh focused, without much success, on stricter regulation of the public market. This paper addresses this issue from a more private sector approach. The existing quality and price of pharmaceuticals are analysed and alternative mechanisms are explored to improve the quality and cost competitiveness of Bangladesh’s pharmaceuticals domestically and internationally"

Rickets : an overview and future directions, with special reference to Bangladesh

CRAVIARI, Thierry
March 2008

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"This article provides an overview of the history, epidemiology, clinical findings, treatment, and prevention of nu¬tritional rickets from both global and Bangladeshi perspectives. In so doing, an agendum for future research is proposed"
Rickets Convergence Group Meeting
Dhaka, Bangladesh
26-27 January 2006
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (JHPN), 26(1)

Measuring medicine prices, availability, affordability and price components

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL (HAI)
2008

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This manual is to help governments, civil society groups and others concerned about the prices of medicines to collect and analyse: medicine prices (patient prices and government procurement prices) across sectors and regions in a country; medicine availability; treatment affordability; and all price components in the supply chain from manufacturer to patient (taxes, mark-ups etc.). It is accompanied by a CD-ROM which contains a more extensive collection resources and tools, such as sample training materials, frequently asked questions, and a report template for use in developing national survey reports

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

Knowledge for action on equity in health in Uganda

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
HEPS UGANAD - COALITION FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
2008

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This is the report of a national meeting to promote policies for equity in health. It brought together government, academic and civil society institutions to explore, understand and propose options for reducing inequalities in health in Uganda

Global health watch 2 : an alternative world health report

PEOPLE'S HEALTH MOVEMENT
MEDACT
GLOBAL EQUITY GAUGE ALLIANCE
2008

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This second edition of Global Health Watch covers a comprehensive range of topics, including access to medicines, mental health, water and sanitation, nutrition, and war and conflict. It also draws attention to the politics of global health and the policies and actions of key actors

Genocide by denial : how profiteering from HIV/AIDS killed millions

MUGYENYI, Peter
2008

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This open access book charts the spread of AIDS and its impact on people in villages in Uganda, sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world and the unnecessary numbers of deaths, particularly among poor people that it has caused. It also looks at the campaign to gain universal access to anti-retroviral therapy and the limited level of response from the rich world. The author challenges pharmaceutical companies to develop more ethical and humanitarian ways to trade, involving crucial life-saving drugs, and calls for a new world order to ensure entitlement of the poor to rapid humanitarian relief

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