Monthly cost of providing key drugs could be $1-2 per person, experts say

Essentialmedicines could be provided for as little as $1-$2 US a month perperson in developing countries, experts said on Monday as theycalled on governments to boost efforts to ensure everyone canaccess basic healthcare.

Although global spending on medicines is about eight timesthis amount, one in five countries spends less than $1 per monthper person, according to the first analysis of the cost ofproviding key drugs by The Lancet Commission on EssentialMedicines.

The commission, comprising 21 international experts, saidlack of access to affordable, quality medicines was threateningprogress towards universal health coverage, one of the targetsunder the new global development goals adopted by world leadersat a U.N. summit last year.

The list of essential medicines contains 201 drugs neededfor a basic healthcare system and includes HIV, malaria andcancer drugs, vaccines and contraceptives. The list is updatedby the World Health Organization every two years.

"The affordability of essential medicines is a corechallenge and is a challenge to our ability to deliveruniversal health coverage," commission co-chair and pharmacistAndy Gray told a telephone media briefing.

Gray, a senior lecturer at South Africa's University ofKwaZulu-Natal, called for additional financing to meet basichealthcare needs and said low-income countries that struggle tomeet them should receive support from the internationalcommunity.

Based on disease prevalence, consumption of medicines andthe price of drugs, the commission estimated the cost ofproviding essential medicines to the populations of low- andmiddle-income countries to be between $77 billion and $152billion a year.

It said 41 countries were spending less than $1 per personper month on medicines while global spending on medicines in2017 was predicted to be $1.2 trillion.

The experts said "massive inequities and inefficiencies" infinancing and governance were restricting access to drugs formany people.

They said persistent problems with the quality and safety ofmedicines in many low- and middle-income countries must also beaddressed with better regulation.

For example, over 120,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa areestimated to have died in 2013 because of substandardanti-malarial medicines, the commission said.

The experts also called for urgent reforms in the wayessential drugs are developed and patented to improveaffordability and access.