The great medicines scandal: Access is not just about cost

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7557.44-a

BMJ 2006;333:44 (1 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7557.44-a

Letter

The great medicines scandal

Access is not just about cost

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—I write with reference to the editorial by Richards.¹In addition to important information on pricing, the World HealthOrganization/Health Action International report provides vitalinformation on the availability of medicines in low resourcesettings. The authors report alarmingly low availability ofkey medicines to treat chronic diseases in both public and privatepharmacies across most regions.

For example, hydrochlorothiazide, considered a first line antihypertensivein many countries, had very low availability. In the privatesector, median availability for the originator product and thegeneric product was 0% and 41%, respectively.² In the publicsector, median availability for both products was 0%.² Hydrochlorothiazideremains one of the most cost effective means of controllinghypertension; but if it is not available it cannot be used.Although campaigns to reduce prices are important, they willnot tackle the issue of availability.

The availability of beclometasone inhalers to control asthmawas . . . [Full text of this article]

Brenda J Waning, assistant professor of international health

Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA bwaning@bu.edu